Sample records for eastern germany 1946-2002

Since the former East German Communist State--the German Democratic Republic (GDR)--was incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany, the federal constitution has been valid throughout the whole of Germany, guaranteeing press freedom and ending press censorship in easternGermany. In October 1989, the GDR had 39 daily newspapers (many…

Educational systems considerably influence educational opportunities and the resulting social inequalities. Contrasting institutional regulations of both structures and contents, the authors present a typology of educational system types in Germany to analyze their effects on social inequality in easternGermany after unification. After 1990, the…

Since the 1970s there are several long-term monitoring programmes for plant diseases and pests in Germany. Within the framework of a national research project, some otherwise confidential databases comprising 77 111 samples from numerous sites accross EasternGermany could be accessed and analysed. The pest data covered leaf rust (Puccinia triticina) and powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis) in winter wheat, aphids (Aphididae, four genera) on wheat and other cereal crops, late blight (Phytophthora infestans) in potatoes, and pollen beetles (Brassicogethes aeneus) on rape. These data were complemented by daily weather observations from the German Weather Service (DWD). In a first step, Pearson correlations between weather variables and pest frequencies were calculated for seasonal time periods of different start months and durations and ordered into so-called correlograms. This revealed principal weather effects on disease spread - e. g. that wind is favourable for mildew throughout the year or that rape pollen beetles like it warm, but not during wintertime. Secondly, the pest frequency samples were found to resemble gamma distributions, and a generalised linear model was fitted to describe their parameter shift depending on end-of-winter temperatures for aphids on cereals. The method clearly shows potential for systematic pest risk assessments regarding climate change.

Human hantavirus disease cases, caused by Puumala virus (PUUV), are mainly recorded in western and southern areas of Germany. This bank vole reservoir survey confirmed PUUV presence in these regions but its absence in northern and eastern regions. PUUV occurrence is associated with the presence of the Western bank vole phylogroup. PMID:27983499

The various sectors of environmental policy are considered. Reference is made to waters, air, waste processing, noise etc. The respective situations are described and taken a critical look at both in relation to the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. Measures to be taken are scrutinized in the same way. In conclusion environmental experiences gained in the Eastern and Western part of Germany lead to theses such as the following: - The communist ideology, refering to the two parts of Germany, cannot prove that the communist system is bound to promote pollution control whereas the democratic system of the Federal Republic of Germany is bound to smother it. In recent years both the Eastern and Western population has increasingly grown conscious of the enivronment. Attitudes and opinions are increasingly influencing political decision making. On the whole this development is an ideal basis for further positive advancements. According to scientifically proven technological know-how and socio-economic efficiency, conventional environmental loads can be counteracted by measures which will presumably bring about a positive change and trends towards recovery - both parts of Germany are disposing of balances giving proof of the fact that, as a matter of fact, our essential conditions for life are not inevitably bound to be destroyed. Not at all are these balances inferior to international standards. What remains to be done now is to realize the alternatives developed and tested by scientific and technical research. Convenient reorganizations and rearrangements will contribute to prompt, financially and organizationally feasible solutions. (orig./HSCH).

Physical, chemical, and microbial properties of forest soils subjected to long-term fly ash depositions were analyzed in spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) stands of easternGermany on three forest sites along an emission gradient of 3 (high input), 6, and 15 km (low input) downwind of a coal-fired power plant. Past emissions resulted in an atypical high mass of mineral fly ash constituents in the organic horizons at the high input site of 128 t ha-1 compared to 58 t ha-1 at the low input site. Magnetic susceptibility measurements proved that the high mineral content of the forest floor was a result of fly ash accumulation in these forest stands. Fly ash deposition in the organic horizons at Site Ⅰ versus Ⅲsignificantly increased the pH values, effective cation exchange capacity, base saturation and, with exception of the L horizon, concentrations of mobile heavy metals Cd, Cr, and Ni, while stocks of organic C generally decreased. A principal component analysis showed that organic C content and base status mainly controlled soil microbial biomass and microbial respiration rates at these sites, while pH and mobile fractions of Cd, Cr, and Ni governed enzyme activities. Additionally,it was hypothesized that long-term fly ash emissions would eventually destabilize forest ecosystems. Therefore, the results of this study could become a useful tool for risk assessment in forest ecosystems that were subjected to past emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Alley-cropping system is seen as a viable land-use practice for mitigation of greenhouse gas CO2, energy-wood production and soil carbon sequestration. The extent to which carbon is stored in soil varies between ecosystems, and depends on tree species, soil types and on the extent of physical protection of carbon within soil aggregates. This study investigates soil carbon sequestration at alley-cropping systems presented by alleys of fast growing tree species (black locust and poplar) and maize, in Brandenburg, EasternGermany. Carbon accumulation and turnover are assessed by measuring carbon fractions differing in decomposition rates. For this purpose soil samples were fractionated into labile and recalcitrant soil-size fractions by wet-sieving: macro (>250 µm), micro (53-250 µm) and clay + silt (water extractable OC, and microbial C. Litter decomposition was evaluated by litter bags experiment. Soil CO2 flux was measured by LiCor automated device LI-8100A. No differences for the total and stable (clay+silt, treatment. While cold water-extractable carbon was significantly higher at maize alley compared to black locust alley. This may indicate faster turnover of organic matter at maize alley due to tillage, which influenced greater incorporation of plant residues into the soil, greater soil respiration and microbial activity.

In this paper, high-resolution numerical simulations of the 12-13 August 2002 flooding event in easternGermany are presented. The simulations are performed with the Penn State/National Center for Atmospheric Research mesoscale model MM5 in a four-domain configuration with a finest horizontal resolution of 1 km. Sensitivity experiments are performed with coarser resolutions (3 and 9 km), with different cloud microphysical parametrizations and with a different date of initialization. Moreover, tests with 1 km resolution but the smoothed topography of the 9 km runs are conducted in order to isolate the contribution of the model topography to the differences between the 1 km runs and the 9 km runs. The results show that the high-resolution runs reproduce the observed structure of the precipitation field very well. In particular, the location of the rainfall maximum is correct to within 15 km. The quantitative agreement between model results and observations is fairly good in regions with light to moderate rain, but large amounts of precipitation tend to be underpredicted. For observed 36-hour rainfall accumulations exceeding 200 mm, the negative bias typically ranges between 15 and 30% with fairly little dependence on the microphysical parametrization. In the coarser-resolved runs, the bias at high precipitation amounts becomes even more pronounced, and it is found that this behaviour is not only due to the fact that a coarser resolution is associated with a smoother topography. This indicates a systematic deficiency in the microphysical parametrizations, limiting their ability to simulate heavy precipitation.

Fly ash-enriched soils occur widely throughout the industrial regions of easternGermany and in other heavily industrialized areas. A limited amount of research has suggested that fly ash enrichment alters the water repellency (WR) characteristics of soil. This study concentrates on the influence of fly ash enrichment on WR of forest soils with a focus on forest floor horizons (FFHs). The soils were a Technosol developed from pure lignite fly ash, FFHs with lignite fly ash, and FFHs without lignite fly ash enrichment. Three different methods were used to characterize soil WR. Additionally, carbon composition was determined using {sup 13}C-NMR spectra to interpret the influence of the organic matter. This study showed that the actual WR characteristics of undisturbed, fly ash-enriched soils can be explained in terms of the composition of soil organic matter, with the fly ash content playing only a minimal role. Regardless of the huge amounts of mainly mineral fly ash enrichment, all undisturbed FFHs were comparable in their WR characteristics and their carbon compositions, which were dominated by recently-formed organic substances. The pure fly ash deposit was strongly influenced by lignite remains, with the topsoil having a greater content of recent plant residues. Thus, the undisturbed topsoil was more repellent than the subsoil. When homogenized samples were used, we found a distinct effect of fly ash enrichment and structure on WR. Water repellency of the pure fly ash horizons did not differ distinctly, while the fly ash enrichment in the FFHs caused a significant reduction in WR. These results led to the assumption that water-repellent structures of the topsoils were probably the result of hydrophobic coatings of recently formed organic substances, whereby the initially high wettability of the mainly mineral, hydrophilic fly ash particles was reduced.

Petroleum and natural gas are produced from the Stassfurt carbonate (Zechstein 2) at the northern and southern margins of the Zechstein basin in easternGermany. The following facies types can be distinguished at the basin margins: basin, slope, shelf margin (including carbonate sandbars), sabkha, and lagoon. Especially the high-energy carbonates (grainstones and packstones) of the islands on the shelf and, locally, the carbonate sandbars are considered to be excellent pore reservoirs. The paleomorphological traps are formed by Zechstein salt several hundred meters thick. Suprahydrostatic pressures are common in the traps. The oils are characterized by relatively low concentrations of diasteranes, relatively high biomarker concentrations, and a prevalence of even-numbered n-alkanes. This indicates a moderately mature carbonate source rock. The biomarker patterns and isotope ratios of the oil differ, however, providing an indication of the organic precursor material and the sedimentation environment. The Zechstein 2 source rock samples usually contained less than 0.3% total organic carbon; a maximum of 1.65% was measured. The extractable organic material was determined to have a moderate maturity; the [delta][sup 13]C values of the kerogens are between -25.8 and -24.4$, and the biomarkers indicate a carbonate matrix. On the north side of the Zechstein basin, the oils show a good correlation with the analyzed source rocks. One the south side, only the oils from the sandbar and slope areas correlate with Zechstein 2 source rocks. Source rocks from lagoonal environments are apparently characterized by another organic facies. The associated gases contain considerable nitrogen (17-68 vol.%); CO[sub 2] concentrations lie below 1%. The carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios of the hydrocarbons in these gases are typical of gases associated with oils from marine source rocks. On the basis of their isotope values, the genesis of the nitrogen and CO[sub 2] will be discussed.

The education-to-labor market transitions experienced by young people in England and in eastern and western Germany were compared. The eastern German portion of the study was based on a 1996 study that included a survey of 100 trainers and 1,000 apprentices in 12 companies; in-depth interviews with 18 trainers, career advisers, and others; and…

Full Text Available Background: EasternGermany is a region with one of the world's highest percentages of non-marital births. Marriage and childbearing seem to be decoupled. This brings into question people's views on the institution of marriage. Objective: This paper examines eastern Germans' views on cohabitation, marriage, and childbearing. It argues that historical, social, and political contexts shape the social norms of marriage and non-marital childbearing. Methods: This paper presents data from eight qualitative focus group interviews with 74 women and men aged 25-40 in Rostock, a medium-sized city in easternGermany. Results: The respondents often compared their own motives and incentives for marriage with those which existed in the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR and held true for their parents. Many of them stated that having children was important for them as individuals and for their partnership. However, they treated the decision to get married and the decision to have children as two separate issues. Respondents often referred to the past and said that the strong legal and financial incentives to marry in the past regime in the socialist GDR no longer exist. Today's incentives were seen as minor, or as irrelevant to their personal situations.

This paper considers the impact of geopolitical factors, and in particular the collapse of Communism and EU accession, on language education policy and practice in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). CEE is understood here as referring to the former soviet-controlled, eastern bloc counties of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, East Germany, Hungary,…

Due to the flooding of former open-pit mines, Europe's largest artificial lake district is created in EasternGermany. Between 1990 and 2006 more than 80 km² of new lakes have already been formed. These large-scale land cover changes may impact regional meteorological characteristics, therefore it is of interest, whether effects of the mining lakes can already be observed. We especially focus on whether the evaporation from the mining pit lakes leads to a higher precipitation on their lee side. To detect changes in the precipitation patterns, we analysed daily precipitation data (1980-2014) of 25 stations in an area of 10 000 km² widely around the lake district. Under the assumption that the influences of the lakes should be detectable either directly as trends in the observed data or as a deviation from a general measure for precipitation we combined statistical tests and principal component analysis (PCA). We applied pre-whitening Mann-Kendall tests to detect precipitation trends and Mann-Whitney tests to detect differences between split samples (before and after the flooding of most of the lakes). The PCA was applied based on the correlation matrix of daily precipitation at the different stations. As the daily precipitation can sufficiently be explained by the first five principal components, the recombination of these five principal components was used as a general measure of precipitation in the region. By regression trees (random forests) a relationship between the eigenvectors of the first five principal components and physiogeographic characteristics of the stations (e.g. altitude) was shown. Both the observed data and the deviations between the measurements and the recombination of the first five principal components showed divergent trends with high spatial variability and also interannual variability, but a pattern consistent with the lee side of the lake could not be detected. Therefore, it has been demonstrated that the emerging lakes had no

An important role falls to this energy source in the restructuring of the energy industry in the new federal states following reunification. In 1992, only two years after work started on the establishment of a modern natural gas industry, this fuel was supplying around 11,7% of the new states` energy needs. The difficult initial economic situation, the urgency in the setting up of the natural gas supply system and the successful development of the natural gas industry in easternGermany are described in the following article. (orig.) [Deutsch] Bei der Umstrukturierung der Energiewirtschaft in den neuen Bundeslaendern nach der Wiedervereinigung ist dem Energietraeger eine wichtige Rolle zugekommen. 1992 - also nur zwei Jahre nach Beginn des Aufbaus einer modernen Erdgaswirtschaft - hatte Erdgas einen Anteil von rund 11,7% an der Deckung des Energiebedarfes in den neuen Bundeslaendern. Die schwierige wirtschaftliche Ausgangssituation, der Zeitdruck beim Aufbau der Erdgasversorgung und die erfolgreiche Entwicklung der Erdgaswirtschaft in Ostdeutschland sind Gegenstand des folgenden Beitrages. (orig.)

Hettstedt, a city in easternGermany with a long history of mining and smelting of nonferrous ores, has several industrial sources of heavy metals. The indoor exposure to metals of children (5 to 14 years old) in the Hettstedt area was assessed by measuring the levels of lead, cadmium, and arsenic contamination in sedimented house dust. Factors which influence the dust loading rate and the surface loading rates of these contaminants in house dust were investigated. The geometric mean of the dust loading rate was 8.9 mg/m2 day. The geometric means of surface loading rates were 1.14, 0. 024, and 0.023 microg/m2 day for lead, cadmium, and arsenic, respectively. Factors that were significantly associated with surface loading rates included the city area of residence, automobile traffic near home, parent with occupational exposure to heavy metals, type of heating, housing characteristics, whether child's home is damp, number of persons living in the child's home, and parents' education. The most significant of these factors was the city area of residence, which reflects the distance from the metal sources; this factor accounted for about half of the variances explained by the regression models.

Atmospheric concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured in 14 successive daytime and nighttime air samples collected from Melpitz, a rural site in easternGermany. The average total concentration of PCBs was 110+/-80pgm{sup -3} and they were predominately present in the gas phase ({approx}95%). Composition of individual congeners closely resembled those of Clophen A30 and Aroclor 1232. Partial vapor pressures of PCBs were well correlated with temperature and the steep slopes obtained from Clausius-Clapeyron plots (-4500 to -8000) indicated that evaporation from adjacent land surfaces still controls the atmospheric levels of these pollutants. Particle-gas partitioning coefficients (K{sub P}) of PCBs were well correlated with the respective sub-cooled vapor pressures (P{sub L}{sup o}), but the slopes obtained from logK{sub P} versus logP{sub L}{sup o} plots (-0.16 to -0.59) deviated significantly from the expected value of -1. Overall, gas-particle partitioning of PCBs was better simulated by Junge-Pankow than octanol/air partition coefficient-based model.

Borrelia (B.) burgdorferi sensu lato, the causative agent of Lyme disease, is the most important arthropod-borne zoonosis-pathogen in the Northern hemisphere. Besides small mammals, birds, primarily Passeriformes and sea birds, play an important role in the transmission, distribution and maintenance of this disease. Previous studies on birds have focused mainly on the detection of Borrelia-infected ticks. However, the presence or absence of an infected tick cannot be taken as an indicator of the infective status of the avian host; to date this area of research has not been explored. In this study, serological analyses of blood collected from free-living birds of prey (n = 29) at the rehabilitation centre in Eastern Westphalia, Germany, highlights that birds of prey are also susceptible to B. burgdorferi and react immunologically to an infection. Increased antibody-levels could be found by using a modified Indirect Immunofluorescent-testing in two common buzzards, Buteo buteo, and two eagle owls, Bubo bubo. Further research regarding the serological diagnostics of B. burgdorferi within the avian host is required. In the future, it should be taken into account that birds of prey can be reservoirs for B. burgdorferi, as well as carriers of infected ticks; although at present their epidemiological importance is still to be confirmed.

Species diversity depends on, often interfering, multiple ecological drivers. Comprehensive approaches are hence needed to understand the mechanisms determining species diversity. In this study, we analysed the impact of vegetation structure, soil properties and fragmentation on the plant species diversity of remnant calcareous grasslands, therefore, in a comparative approach. We determined plant species diversity of 18 calcareous grasslands in south easternGermany including all species and grassland specialists separately. Furthermore, we analysed the spatial structure of the grasslands as a result of fragmentation during the last 150 years (habitat area, distance to the nearest calcareous grassland and connectivity in 1830 and 2013). We also collected data concerning the vegetation structure (height of the vegetation, cover of bare soil, grass and litter) and the soil properties (content of phosphorous and potassium, ratio of carbon and nitrogen) of the grassland patches. Data were analysed using Bayesian multiple regressions. We observed a habitat loss of nearly 80% and increasing isolation between grasslands since 1830. In the Bayesian multiple regressions the species diversity of the studied grasslands depended negatively on cover of litter and to a lower degree on the distance to the nearest calcareous grassland in 2013, whereas soil properties had no significant impact. Our study supports the observation that vegetation structure, which strongly depends on land use, is often more important for the species richness of calcareous grasslands than fragmentation or soil properties. Even small and isolated grasslands may, therefore, contribute significantly to the conservation of species diversity, when they are still grazed.

Our study is concerned with the agricultural recultivation of post lignite mining areas in Lusatia, where Germany's largest lignite mining area is located. In this region mining leads to disturbances on a landscape level. Recultivation efforts attempt to regenerate post mining areas for various land use options. In this study, the agricultural recultivation is considered. The sandy to loamy substrate that is used for recultivation stems from depths of several meters and is free of soil organic matter. The substrate itself is unstructured when used to construct the sites. During site construction, the substrate is subject to strong mechanical stresses due to excavation, deposition and re-levelling. This practice leads to more or less serious soil compaction which can cause decreased yields of agricultural crops. Our experimental area has been heaped up and re-levelled in 2006/2007. On various subplots the extent of compaction, the effect of amelioration by deep loosening, differing organic soil additives and crop rotations which include deep rooting plants is studied. We compare results of the soil physical status-quo sampling (before the application of any recultivation measure, sample collection in 2007) with recent results (sample collection in 2010) to show the development of soil stability, soil structure and soil functions depending on the recultivation practice. The results of the first soil sampling (2007) revealed bulk density values between 1.3 and 1.9 g/cm³ but comparably low values of precompression stress. We found no correlation between bulk density, saturated hydraulic conductivity and air permeability and for one soil depths a negative correlation between bulk density and precompression stress. We show the degree of compaction on different subplots after site construction and the persistence of recultivation measures such as deep loosening, deep-rooting plants (e.g. alfalfa and sweet clover) by investigating their effects on bulk density

Regional climate change scenarios for Central Europe predict both an overall increase in temperature and alterations in annual precipitation regimes. For large parts of Central Europe, climate change is expected to result in an increase in winter precipitation and a decrease in summer precipitation. In addition, an increase in extreme conditions, such as heat waves, prolonged drought periods, and heavy rainfall events are predicted. This research examines the potential impacts of increased heavy rainfall events on matter export from small catchment areas, and how different vegetation cover and land management options effects these exports. In order to evaluate the export of matter from different land-use types in the Eastern Ore Mountains (Saxony, NE Germany, 50° 48'18.06" North, 13° 36'24.54" East), study sites were established in three small catchments with homogeneous land-use. These study areas are each sub-catchments of the Ammelsdorf catchment, which provides inflow to the Lehnmühle reservoir (a major water supply for the city of Dresden). Each sub catchment represents one of the three main land-use types in the catchment area of the reservoir: crops (winter oilseed rape, winter wheat), grasslands, and forests (primarily spruce). Since November 2009 the discharge from these sub catchments has been continuously measured and water quality was analyzed on a weekly basis. During peak flow events, discharge was collected using automatic water samplers, which allowed for high temporal resolution analysis of matter export during these periods to be made. During the 2010 and 2011 hydrological years, several heavy rainfall events occurred which have been evaluated. During a 110-hour long precipitation event (P = 170 mm) between 37 and 81 water samples per sub catchment were collected and analyzed. The resulting export of dissolved phosphorus (ortho-PO4-) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from the sub catchments during this event is provided in the results. In

More than most other economic sectors agriculture depends on climatic conditions. This report presents an analysis of possible climate change effects on EasternGermany's agriculture. It suggests that the risk of EasternGermany's acreage losing in value is low. Negative regional impacts of climate change could be countered by appropriate adaptation measures, crop yields in many areas could even be raised and yield losses might be of set by counteracting price increases on the world market. The projection is based on a regional climate scenario. Using the statistical scenario-model STAR II available large scale projections from climate change global circulation models for middle Europe were downscaled to the existing network of East-German weather stations. The available weather records for the period 1951 to 2003 were extended for the scenario period 2004-2055. For the extension, a general increase of the average annual temperature in EasternGermany by up to 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.8 degrees Fahrenheit) was assumed until the middle of the 21st century. The increase in temperature was triggered by a rise in atmospheric CO2 concentration from 386 at present to 542 ppm in 2055. The scenario model STAR II was used to derive the associated changes of the other major climate variables. Following the results the average annual rainfall is projected to decrease only marginally. However, shift of rainfall patterns is to be expected. Summertime rainfall will probably decrease while wintertime rainfall is likely to increase. This trend can already be monitored today and will continue as a tendency into the future. According to the projections this development will be interrupted infrequently, though, by relatively humid phases with comparatively high amounts of rainfall during the summer months. Based on this scenario, the future crop yield potentials were evaluated for the summer crop maize and the winter crop wheat in EasternGermany. The evaluation used

More than most other economic sectors agriculture depends on climatic conditions. This report presents an analysis of possible climate change effects on EasternGermany's agriculture. It suggests that the risk of EasternGermany's acreage losing in value is low. Negative regional impacts of climate change could be countered by appropriate adaptation measures, crop yields in many areas could even be raised and yield losses might be of set by counteracting price increases on the world market. The projection is based on a regional climate scenario. Using the statistical scenario-model STAR II available large scale projections from climate change global circulation models for middle Europe were downscaled to the existing network of East-German weather stations. The available weather records for the period 1951 to 2003 were extended for the scenario period 2004-2055. For the extension, a general increase of the average annual temperature in EasternGermany by up to 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.8 degrees Fahrenheit) was assumed until the middle of the 21st century. The increase in temperature was triggered by a rise in atmospheric CO2 concentration from 386 at present to 542 ppm in 2055. The scenario model STAR II was used to derive the associated changes of the other major climate variables. Following the results the average annual rainfall is projected to decrease only marginally. However, shift of rainfall patterns is to be expected. Summertime rainfall will probably decrease while wintertime rainfall is likely to increase. This trend can already be monitored today and will continue as a tendency into the future. According to the projections this development will be interrupted infrequently, though, by relatively humid phases with comparatively high amounts of rainfall during the summer months. Based on this scenario, the future crop yield potentials were evaluated for the summer crop maize and the winter crop wheat in EasternGermany. The evaluation used

The individualization thesis advanced by sociologists of religion such as Grace Davie, Danièle Hervieu-Léger, Michael Krüggeler, Thomas Luckmann, Hubert Knoblauch, Wade Clark Roof, Wayne E. Baker, and others has become increasingly widespread especially in Europe within the sociology of religion. In contrast to the secularization theory it assumes that processes of modernization will not lead to a decline in the social significance of religion, but rather to a change in its social forms. According to the individualization theory, traditional and institutionalized forms of religiosity will be increasingly replaced by more subjective ones detached form church, individually chosen, and syncretistic in character. The article examines the empirical applicability of the individualization thesis on the basis of how religiosity and church affiliation have evolved in Germany over the past 50 years. It comes to the conclusion that the rise of individually determined non-church religiosity cannot compensate for the losses of institutionalized religiosity, since non-church religiosity remains rather marginal and is interwoven with traditional Christian religiosity. Religious individualization is only a component of the predominant secularization process.

At the Adelholzen section (SE-Germany), a 13 m thick shallow marine Lutetian sequence (Adelholzen beds) comprising shallow benthic foraminifera Zones SBZ13 to SBZ15 (Briguglio in Gebhardt et al., 2013) is overlain by a 1 m thick brownish layer rich in glauconite and ferrigenous phosphate. This layer forms the top of the Adelholzen beds. It marks the onset of strong basin subsidence in the late Lutetian and is separated from the Priabonian by a stratigraphic gap comprising a major part of the Bartonian. The Priabonian marlstone (Stockletten) is 4 m thick at the Adelholzen section. It contains rich and high diverse planktonic foraminifera assemblages ("Globigerina marl") indicating bathyal conditions. Twenty eight samples from the Adelholzen beds and the Stockletten were processed for palynology at the Geological Survey of Austria following standard procedures. Palynological slides were examined for relative abundances of organic walled dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts). One-hundred organic-walled dinocyst species were identified at the Adelholzen section. Stratigraphically important dinoflagellate cyst taxa for the assignment of the Adelholzen beds to the Lutetian are Wilsonidium echinosuturatum, Dracodinium waipawaense, Wetzeliella articulata, Areoligera coronata, Cordosphaeridium cantharellus, Hystrichokolpoma pusillum and Aireiana spp. Stratigraphically important dinoflagellate cyst taxa for the assignment of the Stockletten to the Priabonian are Diphyes ficusoides, Distatodinium ellipticum, Nematosphaeropsis labyrinthus, Rhombodinium longimanum, Rhombodinium perforatum, and Selenopemphix nephroides. Remarkable bioevents in the section are the abundant occurrences of Areoligera coronata and Cordosphaeridium gracile in the basal greensand. In the overlying marlstone and marly limestone Homotryblium tenuispinosum is the dominating species and the first specimens of Impagidinium dispertitum occur indicating open marine conditions.

Germany was divided into two parts after World War II. The closed border and a nonconvertible currency in the Eastern part were the factors that did not allow a drug market to develop. Alcohol and medicaments were used as substitute drugs. Since Germany was reunified 5 years ago, there are now the same conditions prevailing for the procurement and sale of drugs in East Germany as there are in the Western German states. This report describes the current state of drug traffic, especially in Saxony, under the new social conditions.

A detailed integrated stratigraphic study was carried out on middle Miocene fluvial successions of the Upper Freshwater Molasse (OSM) from the North Alpine Foreland Basin, in eastern Bavaria, Germany. The biostratigraphic investigations yielded six new localities thereby refining the OSM biostratigraphy for units C to E (sensu; Heissig, Actes du Congres BiochroM’97. Mem Trav EPHE, Inst Montpellier 21, 1997) and further improving biostratigraphic correlations between the different sections throughout eastern Bavaria. Radioisotopic ages of 14.55 ± 0.19 and 14.88 ± 0.11 Ma have been obtained for glass shards from the main bentonite horizon and the Ries impactite: two important stratigraphic marker beds used for confirming our magnetostratigraphic calibration to the Astronomical Tuned Neogene Time Scale (ATNTS04; Lourens et al. in Geologic Time Scale 2004, Cambridge University Press, 2004). Paleomagnetic analysis was performed using alternating field (AF) and thermal (TH) demagnetization methods. The AF method revealed both normal and reverse polarities but proofs to yield unreliable ChRM directions for the Puttenhausen section. Using the biostratigraphic information and radioisotopic ages, the magnetostratigraphic records of the different sections are tentatively correlated to the Astronomical Tuned Neogene Time Scale (ATNTS04; Lourens et al. in Geologic Time Scale 2004, Cambridge University Press, 2004). This correlation implies that the main bentonite horizon coincides to chron C5ADn, which is corroborated by its radioisotopic age of 14.55 Ma, whereas the new fossil locality Furth 460, belonging to OSM unit E, probably correlates to chron C5Bn.1r. The latter correlation agrees well with the Swiss Molasse locality Frohberg. Correlations of the older sections are not straightforward. The Brock horizon, which comprises limestone ejecta from the Ries impact, possibly correlates to C5ADr (14.581 14.784 Ma), implying that, although within error, the radioisotopic age

The Leinetal Graben in northern Germany is a N-S striking, intra-plate tectonic graben that, according to the youngest sediments within the graben, occurred post-Jurassic, probably late Cretaceous. We show, by interpreting two (1.8 and 3.2 km long), 2D, P-wave, reflection-seismic profiles which cross the eastern border faults of the Leinetal Graben, that the tectonic evolution began much earlier, probably in the Early Triassic. The profiles show information to a depth of approx. 1 km. Using two deep boreholes to calibrate the seismic, we interpreted the Mesozoic sedimentary layers down to Triassic Zechstein salt and the faults that affect these strata. We recognize two sets of faults: firstly steep, planar faults, that are closely clustered and terminate in the Zechstein salt, and secondly shallow faults that connect between two of the first set of faults and have very variable dip, depending on the lithology they cut at that point. These two systems represent thick- and thin-skinned tectonics, respectively. We envisage the late Triassic pro-Leinetal Graben structure as a salt down-building area or as the result of rafting of sandstone units on the salt layer. The system was later reactivated in the Late Cretaceous during intra-plate N-S compression and E-W extension. By restoring the deformation caused by the thin-skinned fault, we are able to determine the amount of area change in the hanging-wall caused by the fault, due to its undulating geometry. Area change is heterogeneous, but reaches 3-4% locally. This may well be sufficient to allow fluids to flow in the fault damage zone in these areas. It would also account for the different seismic appearance of the fault in the two profiles if fluids were heterogeneously distributed along it. This method of retro-deformation is entirely appropriate to determine the suitability of a brittle fault for, for instance, geothermal applications.

We analyzed changes in smoking by length of stay among immigrants in Germany and related them to the "smoking epidemic" model and the acculturation theory. We used data from a longitudinal survey (German Socio-economic Panel). Immigrants were identified by country of birth (Turkey: respondents n = 828, observations n = 3871; Eastern Europe: respondents n = 2009, observations n = 7202; non-immigrants: respondents n = 34,011, observations n = 140,701). Smoking status data was available for nine years between 1998 and 2012. Length of stay (LOS, in years) was used as proxy for acculturation. We calculated smoking prevalences, prevalence ratios and a random intercept multilevel logistic regression model. With each year spent in Germany, smoking prevalence increases among Turkish women (OR = 1.14 (95%CI = 1.06-1.21)) and slightly decreases among men. Recently immigrated Turkish women smoke less than non-immigrant women (0-5 years: SPR = 0.25 (95%CI = 0.10-0.57)); prevalences converge with increasing LOS (31+ years: SPR = 1.25 (95%CI = 1.06-1.48)). Among Eastern European immigrants no significant changes were apparent. Immigrants from Turkey "import" their smoking prevalence from a country which is in the earlier stages of the "smoking epidemic". With increasing LOS (thus, advancing acculturation), they "move" to the later stages. Anti-smoking interventions should consider different smoking attitudes in Turkey/Germany and need to discourage women from initiating smoking. Future research should also identify reasons for the possible differences between immigrant groups.

Between 1947 and 1990 about 113.000 t of uranium were excavated at the former uranium mining site of Ronneburg (Eastern Thuringia, Germany). The legacy consists of more than 200 million m^3 of metasedimentary rocks rich in organic matter, sulfides and heavy metals originally deposited in mining heaps at the surface. The metasedimentary rocks formed under anoxic conditions about a 400 Mio. years ago are now exposed to oxic conditions. The oxidation of markasite and pyrite results in the formation of H_2SO_4. The formation of acid mine drainage (AMD) leads to high concentrations of uranium, rare earth elements (REE) and other heavy metals in surface water, seepage water and groundwater. This mobilization is due to alteration enhanced by high microbial activity and low pH. The tolerance mechanisms towards heavy metal pollution of soil substrate and surface/groundwater has allowed the selection of microbes which have, e.g. specific transporter genes and which are associated to plants in symbiotic interactions like mycorrhiza. In order to follow the processes linking alteration of metasedimentary rocks to biological systems the use of tracers is needed. One group of such tracers occuring in high concentrations in the water phase at the Ronneburg mining site are the REE (La-Lu) which are featured by very similar chemical behaviour. They show smooth but continuous variations of their chemical behaviour as a function of atomic number. For seepage water of the waste rock dump Nordhalde - sampled over a period of two years - the shale normalized REE patterns show enrichment of heavy REE and only minor variations, although the concentration differs. At sampling points in the surface water and in groundwater rather similar REE patterns were observed. Thus, REE can be used as tracers to identify diffuse inflow of REE-rich acid mine drainage of the dumps into the creek and the sediments. The absolute concentrations of REE in the creek and in ground water are up to 1000 times

The aim of this analysis was to detemine the body burden of lead and cadmium in women aged 50 to 59 years from a mining and smelter area (Hettstedt) and two control areas (Bitterfeld, Zerbst) in easternGermany. In the years 1992-93 1405 women aged 50 to 59 participated in a cross-sectional survey (response rate: 41.6%). 1188 women provided blood and urine samples and in 411 of these samples blood lead levels and cadmium levels in urine (standardised by creatinine) were determined. The geometric mean of blood lead levels among the 50 to 59 year-old woman was 41.5 {mu}g/l with a 95% confidence interval (C.I.) of 39.6-43.6. The geometric mean of cadmium in urine was 0.417 {mu}g/g Cr (95% C.I. 0.390-0.447). Thus the body burden of lead and cadmium differed only slightly, if at all, from the body burden of the general population. The measured body burden did not pose a risk to the evaluated population. Compared to women from the control regions Bitterfeld and Zerbst, women from Hettstedt did not have elevated blood lead levels. Blood lead levels, which reflect mostly the current exposure to lead, were positively influenced by individual behaviours such as smoking and by the distance of the residential area of Hettstedt from the former smelters. Besides this, elevated lead concentrations in tap water and the release of lead from bone after menopause resulted in increased blood lead levels. Compared to women from the control regions women from Hettstedt had significantly increased cadmium excretion in urine. Cadmium levels in urine reflect mainly the cumulative, lifetime exposure to cadmium. (orig.) [German] Die vorliegende Untersuchung hatte zum Ziel, die innere Belastung von Frauen mit Blei und Cadmium in den Regionen Hettstedt (Huettenstandort), Bitterfeld und Zerbst zu untersuchen. 1992/93 nahmen 1405 50- bis 59-jaehrige Frauen an einer Querschnittsuntersuchung teil (Teilnahmerate: 41,6%). In 411 Blut- bzw. Urin-Proben wurden die Bleikonzentration im Blut und die

The Weimar Republic is analysed within the concept of limited and open access orders. Before World War I, Imperial Germany had developed into a mature limited access order with rule of law and open economic access but lack of competition in politics. After World War I and inflation, Weimar Germany...

In the 1990s, the economic policy situation in Germany will be determined by how quickly easternGermany catches up. This will determine the extent of transfers and, consequently, Germany's fiscal policy stance, which, in turn, will influence the macroeconomic policy mix and the growth potential in western Germany. Adjustment in easternGermany is making progress. Privatization of the enterprise sector has nearly been completed. In the privatized firms, a restructuring process is under way, t...

The Weimar Republic is analysed within the framework of limited and open access orders. Germany had developed into a mature limited access order before World War I, with rule of law and open economic access but only limited access to politics. After the war, Germany developed toward an open access...... order; this process was, however, not sustainable. Two interpretations are discussed, which both pose a challenge to the limited access-open access framework: (1.) Weimar Germany was the first open access order that failed; (2.) sufficiency conditions of the sustainability of open access are not yet...

In order to establish their power transmission networks, utilities entering th market in the eastern Laender have to safeguard their rights of passage by limited personal servitude, as in the western Laender, if they cannot do so by way of franchise agreements. This was a special problem emerging with transmission lines and facilities erected before the date of October 2, 1990. The solution was found in the legal instruments of easement and claim to compensation, as defined in paragraph 9 of the GBBerG (land register law). The article explains the modalities of easement and claim to compensation, and the legal requirement of giving evidence of ownership of transmission lines. (orig./HSCH) [Deutsch] Die Energieversorgungsunternehmen muessen sich ihre Leitungsfuehrungsrechte in den neuen Bundeslaendern wie in den alten durch beschraenkt persoenliche Dienstbarkeiten absichern, wenn dies nicht durch besondere Konzessionsvertraege geschieht. Dies bereitete bei den am 2.10.1990 errichteten Leitungen und Anlagen besondere Schwierigkeiten. Die Loesung war eine gesetzliche Begruendung von Dienstbarkeit und Abfindungsanspruch, die in Paragraph 9 Grundbuchbereinigungsgesetz (GBBerG) enthalten ist. Der Artikel eroertert die Begruendung von Dienstbarkeit und Abfindungsanspruch sowie den Nachweis durch Leitungsbescheinigung. (orig./HSCH)

Full Text Available Damage by late spring frost is a risk deciduous trees have to cope with in order to optimize the length of their growing season. The timing of spring phenological development plays a crucial role, not only at the species level, but also at the population and individual level, since fresh new leaves are especially vulnerable. For the pronounced late spring frost in May 2011 in Germany, we studied the individual leaf development of 35 deciduous trees (mainly European beech Fagus sylvatica L. at a mountainous forest site in the Bayerischer Wald National Park using repeated digital photographs. Analyses of the time series of greenness by a novel Bayesian multiple change point approach mostly revealed five change points which almost perfectly matched the expected break points in leaf development: i start of the first greening between DOY (day of the year 108 to 119 (mean 113, ii end of greening and iii visible frost damage after the frost on the night of May 3rd/4th (DOY 123, 124, iv re-sprouting 19 to 38 days after the frost, and v full maturity around DOY 178 (166 to 184 when all beech crowns had fully recovered. Since frost damage was nearly 100%, individual susceptibility did not depend on the timing of first spring leaf unfolding. However, we could identify significant patterns in fitness linked to an earlier start of leaf unfolding. Those individuals that had an earlier start of greening during the first flushing period had a shorter period of recovery and started the second greening earlier. Thus, phenological timing triggered the speed of recovery from such an extreme event. The maximum greenness achieved, however, did not vary with leaf unfolding dates. Two mountain ashes (Sorbus aucuparia L. were not affected by the low temperatures of −5°C. Time series analysis of webcam pictures can thus improve process-based knowledge and provide valuable insights into the link between phenological variation, late spring frost damage and recovery

Since 2015 behavioural scientists investigate at the German chancellery how one could regulate better. This piece illustrates the background of this new strategy and possible concequences for regulation and Rechtswissenschaft in Germany. We first discuss the concept of behaviourally informed regu...

Germany has experienced a substantial influx of German immigrants from Eastern Europe after World War II and expects several million more as a consequence of the demise of socialism. This paper analyses the economic performance of ethnic German migrants to West Germany in comparison with native born West Germans. Ethnic German immigrants from Eastern Europe display lower levels of education, lower rates of self-employment and higher unemployment rates than natives and immigrants from East Ger...

Full Text Available e estimate mortality rates by a measure of socio-economic status in a very large sample of male German pensioners aged~65 or older. Our analysis is entirely nonparametric. Furthermore, the data enable us to compare mortality experiences in eastern and western Germany conditional on socio-economic status. As a simple summary measure, we compute period life expectancies at age~65. Our findings show a lower bound of almost 50 percent (six years on the difference in life expectancy between the lowest and the highest socio-economic group considered. Within groups, we find similar values for the former GDR and western Germany. Our analysis contributes to the literature in three aspects. First, we provide the first population-based differential mortality study for Germany. Second, we use a novel measure of lifetime earnings as a proxy for socio-economic status that remains applicable to retired people. Third, the comparison between eastern and western Germany may provide some interesting insights for transformation countries.

The suicide of Robert Enke,the goalkeeper of the Germany national football team who had battled depression for years,stunned the country and cast depression into the national spotlight as a disturbing disease.

This article discusses effectively maintained inequality considering two different examples from the Germany education system: secondary school attainment and enrolment in highly ranked universities among freshmen. In our analyses of secondary school attainment, we investigate whether considering...

The Eighth Exhibition of German Industry, "Germany at CERN" started this week and offers German companies the opportunity to establish professional contacts with CERN. From left to right in the foreground: Maximilian Metzger (BMBF), Bettinna Schöneseffen (BMBF), Karl-Heinz Kissler (SPL division leader), Horst Wenninger, and Hans Hoffman. Behind and to the right of Karl-Heinz Kissler is His Excellency Mr Walter Lewalter, Ambassador and permanent representative of Germany to the UN office in Geneva.

Germany is the prototypical economy country.Banks in Germany’s economic life plays a very important role.Germany has a large number of Banks and very dense network of bank branches.Deutsche Bank is by far the biggest German bank and Commerzbank is the second biggest.But with all the economic turmoil in the world these days,such rankings can change within

德意志东进运动是一场自12世纪起由教俗贵族组织的、向易北河以东斯拉夫地区拓殖移民的活动。期间，在西斯拉夫乡村的拓荒移民依地区差异分为两种不同的形式：紧邻德意志边境的各公国和地区多以委托土地承租人直接吸引德意志移民迁入的方式，给予移民自由的法律地位、自治的村社地位以及减免租金等优惠政策；而在远离德意志边境的波兰、匈牙利等地则以引入“德意志法”来组织和管理各公国内部的移民活动。方式迥异但实质相近的移民活动改变了近现代中欧和东欧的政治经济格局。%"Drang nach Osten"is a movement which leaded by Kings ,dukes and aristocracys from 12th century to 14th centu-ry in the area in the east of the Elbe .There are two ways that was taken in the Slavic rural colonization and immration move-ment.All countries that closed to German Kindom generally granted the privileges to Locators for recruiting and attracting the German immigrants directly .Immigrants would be granted the legal status of freedom , status of autonomic villages , rent relief and other incentives;Poland, Hungary and other countries which was far away from German managed to organize the domestic colonization and immigration by following exmple of "German Law".The movement finally affected and changed the political and economic structure of modern Central and Eastern Europe .

Full Text Available The article analyzes the participation of Germany in the matter of the Ukrainian crisis 2013-2015 and presents some approaches to the definition of the term «Ukrainian crisis». Reveals the reasons that lead Germany to take an active position in solving the Ukrainian question. Characterized the evolution of German-Russian relations from 90s to 2014, within which examined the St. Petersburg dialogue, «Pact of Putin-Schroeder», «Weimar triangle», «Partnership for modernization», Russian-Georgian conflict 2008. Available analysis of the new strategy of German foreign policy in 2012 «to support globalization – develop partnerships to share responsibility» and a new paradigm of German foreign policy presented in 2014 in the framework of the Munich conference on security policy. Examines the role of Germany in the European integration process of Ukraine during the Euromaidan events, the signing of the Association Agreement of Ukraine with the EU, ratification and future prospects of the enlargement of the European Union through the Eastern partnership countries. Presents the results of the public opinion of the population of Germany on this issue. Analyzes the position of the Germany government regarding the annexation of Crimea, the illegal referendum in Donetsk and Lugansk regions and the military aggression of Russian Federation against Ukraine. Presents description of the Germany role in the process of the diplomatic settlement of the military conflict in the East Ukraine in the framework of Norman four. On the example of polls are considered the public opinion of the population of Germany concerning possible ways of settlement the Ukrainian crisis. Presents the official position of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. J. Gauck, Chancellor Merkel, Foreign Minister Frank-V. Steinmeier and Minister of Finance Schaeuble on certain issues of the Ukrainian crisis and the prolongations of sanctions against the Russian Federation

From left to right: Maximilian Metzger, CERN's Secretary-General, Hermann Schunck, Director at the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and Robert Aymar, CERN's Director-General, talking to Wolfgang Holler from Butting, one of the companies at the "Germany at CERN" exhibition. Far right : Susanne-Corinna Langer-Greipl from BMBF, delegate to the CERN Finance Committee. For three days, CERN's Main Building was transformed into a showcase for German industry. Twenty-nine companies from sectors related to particle physics (electrical engineering, vacuum and low temperature technology, radiation protection, etc.) were here for the ninth "Germany at CERN" exhibition, organised by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), which gave them the opportunity to meet scientists and administrators from the Laboratory. On 1 March the exhibition was visited by a German delegation headed by Dr Hermann Schunck, Director at BMBF.

The bacterium Francisella tularensis is known for more than 100 years by now as the etiological agent of the disease tularemia, a zoonotic infection with a worldwide distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. The prevalence of tularemia shows a wide geographic variation, being comparably infrequent in Germany. Tularemia can present itself with multiple clinical manifestations including ulceroglandular, glandular, oropharyngeal, oculoglandular, respiratory and typhoidal forms. Due to the low prevalence and the unspecific symptomatology, a rapid diagnosis and early start of an effective therapy are rarely obtained. Thus, in this article we summarize important aspects concerning etiology, ecology and routes of transmission, recent epidemiologic situation, clinical picture, diagnostics and treatment of tularemia, focusing on the situation in Germany.

Reunification of Germany, democratic changes in Eastern European countries, and new government policies of the Soviet Union will lead to the reduction of U.S. troops in West Germany. As a Department of Defense contractor providing associate degrees to soldiers in Europe, Central Texas College (CTC) will be severely affected by the troop…

Germany's total national (i.e., combined public and private sector) funding for R&D stood at $42 billion in 1997. The private sector accounted for nearly 62% ($24 billion) of the total, while the public sector accounted for approximately 38%. Since the late 1970s, when the public and private sectors each funded roughly half of Germany's R&D, the private sector has steadily assumed a larger and larger role as the dominant supporter of R&D activity, while overall government funding has remained essentially flat for much of the past two decades. In addition to declining relative to private R&D expenditures, public R&D expenditures in Germany declined by 4% in real terms between 1991 and 1997, to approximately $15 billion. The reduction in R&D investments in the public sector can be attributed in large part to the financial challenges associated with German reunification and related shifts in social priorities including efforts to address high unemployment and to rebuild basic infrastructure in the eastern states. R&D expenditures have also declined as a percentage of the total public budget, from a peak of 3.4% in 1985 to 2.7% in 1996. Energy R&D has been the hardest hit of all major socioeconomic areas of R&D expenditure funded by the German government. Between 1981 and 1997, public energy R&D fell from approximately $1.6 billion to $400 million--a 75% real decline. The $850 million reduction in Germany's fission R&D budget (which constituted two-thirds of government R&D investment in 1985) explains some 90% of the funding decline. Negative public perceptions regarding the safety and environmental impacts of nuclear energy have reduced nuclear power's viability as a long-term energy option for Germany. Discussions of a complete nuclear phaseout are now under way. At the same time, the German government has slashed its investments in fossil energy R&D by more than 90%. While energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies have fared relatively well in comparison

Liver transplantation (LT) is a well-accepted procedure for end-stage liver disease in Germany. In 2015, 1489 patients were admitted to the waiting list (including 1308 new admissions), with the leading etiologies being fibrosis and cirrhosis (n = 349), alcoholic liver disease (n = 302), and hepatobiliary malignancies (n = 220). Organ allocation in Germany is regulated within the Eurotransplant system based on urgency as expressed by the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score. In 2015, only 894 LTs (n = 48 from living donors) were performed at 23 German transplant centers, reflecting a shortage of organs. Several factors may contribute to the low number of organ donations. The German transplant legislation only accepts donation after brain death (not cardiac death), whereas advances in neurosurgery and a more frequently requested "palliative care" approach render fewer patients suitable as potential donors. The legislation further requires the active consent of the donor or first-degree relatives before donation. Ongoing debates within the German transplant field address the optimal management of patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and cholangiocarcinoma and measures to increase living donor transplantations. As a result of irregularities at mainly 4 German transplant centers that were exposed in 2012, guiding principles updated by the German authorities have since implemented strict rules (including internal and external auditing, the 8-eyes principle, mandatory repeated testing for alcohol consumption) to prohibit any manipulations in organ allocation. In conclusion, we will summarize important aspects on the management of LT in Germany, discuss legal and organizational aspects, and highlight challenges mainly related to the relative lack of organ donations, increasing numbers of extended criteria donors, and the peculiarities of the recipient patients. Liver Transplantation 22 1136-1142 2016 AASLD.

Northern Germany is a region of low tectonic activity, where only few and low-magnitude earthquakes occur. The driving tectonic processes are not well-understood up to now. In addition, seismic events during the last decade concentrated at the borders of the natural gas fields. The source depths of these events are shallow and in the depth range of the gas reservoirs. Based on these observations a causal relationship between seismicity near gas fields and the gas production is likely. The strongest of these earthquake had a magnitude of 4.5 and occurred near Rotenburg in 2004. Also smaller seismic events were considerably felt by the public and stimulated the discussion on the underlying processes. The latest seismic event occurred near Langwedel on 22nd November 2012 and had a magnitude of 2.8. Understanding the causes of the seismicity in Northern Germany is crucial for a thorough evaluation. Therefore the Seismological Service of Lower Saxony (NED) was established at the State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology (LBEG) of Lower Saxony in January 2013. Its main task is the monitoring and evaluation of the seismicity in Lower Saxony and adjacent areas. Scientific and technical questions are addressed in close cooperation with the Seismological Central Observatory (SZO) at the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR). The seismological situation of Northern Germany will be presented. Possible causes of seismicity are introduced. Rare seismic events at greater depths are distributed over the whole region and probably are purely tectonic whereas events in the vicinity of natural gas fields are probably related to gas production. Improving the detection threshold of seismic events in Northern Germany is necessary for providing a better statistical basis for further analyses answering these questions. As a first step the existing seismic network will be densified over the next few years. The first borehole station was installed near Rethem by BGR

Sports medicine covers many different aspects, ranging from clinical specialties, such as internal medicine, orthopedics or pediatrics to physiology and sports sciences. The requirements for sports medicine evolve mainly from exercise physiology (elite, leisure and health oriented physical activity), orthopedics and traumatology as well as from preventive and rehabilitative issues. In the new German curriculum, sports medicine is defined as a subspecialty. Historically, sports medicine in Germany has a federal structure with a governing body (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sportmedizin und Prävention). Due to these facts, University Departments of Sports Medicine (which vary greatly in size and performance) are either attached to Medical or non-Medical Faculties, such as Sports Sciences. In medical schools, sports medicine can be selected as an elective subject. However, the main part of teaching sports medicine is covered by Sports Science Faculties. In an international context, the strength of German sports medicine is its clinical orientation and close cooperation with the sport itself, especially high-performance sports. In the future, like in the Anglo- American countries, sports medicine in Germany will play a major role in health prevention and rehabilitation.

Forensic entomology (FE) is increasingly gaining international recognition. In Germany, however, the development of FE has been stagnating, mainly because of the lack of cooperation between police, forensic medicine and entomology. In 1997 a co-operative research project 'Forensic Entomology' was started in Frankfurt/Main at the Center of Legal Medicine and the Research Institute Senckenberg. The aim of this project is to establish FE in Germany as a firmly integrated component of the securing of evidence from human cadavers in cases of suspected homicide. For this purpose we developed a forensic insect collecting kit, and policemen are educated for greater acceptance and better application of FE. The scientific programme focuses on the investigation of the insect succession on cadavers in urban and rural habitats. This also includes new indicator groups (e.g. parasitic wasps) for a more precise calculation of the late post mortem interval. Recently a DNA-based reliable and fast identification method especially for the immature stages of necrophagous insects became part of the project. Preliminary results are reported and two case studies presented.

In 1987 the national AIDS prevention campaign "Gib AIDS keine Chance" (Don't give AIDS a chance) was started in Germany. After a very difficult and controversial political debate about a probably successful response to AIDS, in the end a political decision was made in favour of the implementation of a long term "social learning strategy". Thus, since then the Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung (Federal Centre for Health Education, BZgA) has been running the campaign on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Health. The result of this prevention program is a low rate of infections. In Germany there were 2600 newly diagnosed infections in 2005: 59 % in homosexual men, 16 % by heterosexual contacts, 17 % in people from high prevalence countries and 7 % in i.v. drug users. In comparison to the international situation Germany has a relatively low HIV-prevalence even nowadays. However, Germany has also been confronted with an increasing number of newly diagnosed infections in the last few years. When the prevention program was started it was very important to build new structures for a successful implementation of the campaign. That meant for instance to build up an effective infrastructure for cooperation between the governmental and the nongovernmental sector, including organising the coordinated action among the partners at the federal, regional and local levels. Likewise, international networking was of great importance. A key element, relevant for the success of the campaign was the close cooperation at the federal level between the BZgA and the Deutsche AIDS Hilfe (German AIDS Help, DAH), to combine the highreach intervention in low-prevalence populations with intensive interventions for high prevalence groups. An effective national AIDS prevention campaign must reach the whole population; inform the public about the main risks of infection, about methods of protection and about what is not infectious. Moreover groups with a higher level of risk of

-scale terrorism, and the new US emphasis on pre-emptive strikes. Based on an analysis of Germany's strategic culture, it portrays Germany as a security actor and indicates the conditions and limits of the new German willingness to participate in international military crisis management that developed over...

About 10 million inhabitants of Germany are of non-German origin and use German and one or more other languages in their everyday life. The number of foreign students in German schools is constantly growing. About 25 percent of Germany's foreign population are citizens of other European Union states. The largest group of minority language speakers…

Reducing the consumption of tobacco products in Germany is a health objective that is achievable with smoking cessation treatments for smokers. This objective turns out to be more successful when using different interventions for smoking cessation than with self-initiated smoking cessation methods. This survey describes the range of smoking cessation treatments in Germany and evaluates them on the basis of international guidelines.

Full Text Available The paper analyses Germany's ascent not only as Europe's most important economic power, but also as its leader. Figures show that Germany overcame the crisis; in fact the crisis legitimized its development model. Which would be Germany's main strategic choices, confirmed by the historic evolution of the recent years? First, its option for manufacturing, which allowed Germany to turn into Europe's factory. Second, the option for reform. "Agenda 2010", initiated by Gerhard Schroeder in 2003, is a crucial moment in the country's evolution. Special attention is paid to Germany's position on the single currency. Germany's performance is that it managed to turn the euro into a kind of European Dmark. The euro now formally "obeys" German rules, agreed upon from the very beginning, and is mainly coupled to the evolution of German economy. Germany is now sitting its most important exam: the European one. Today, Germany is Europe's most powerful state, but it must become its leader, whose development model would be accepted throughout the continent. Some German economic options are strikingly similar to China's.

From 1 to 3 march 2005 Administration Building Bldg 60/61 - ground and 1st floor 09:30 - 17:30 Twenty eight companies will present their latest technology at the "Germany at CERN" exhibition. German industry will exhibit products and technologies which are related to the field of particle physics. The main subjects are: mechanical engineering, particle detectors, electrical engineering, electronics, data processing, radiation protection and vacuum and low temperature techonology. The exhibition is organised by the Federal Minister of Education and Research (BMBF), Bonn. There follows: the list of exhibitors A detailed programme will be available in due course at : your Departemental secretariat, the reception information desk, Building 33, the exhibition. A detailed list of firms is available under the following FI link: http://fi-dep.web.cern.ch/fi-dep/structure/memberstates/exhibitions_visits.htm LIST OF EXHIBITORS ACCEL Instruments GmbH APRA-NORM Elektromechanik GmbH BABCOCK NOELL Nucle...

From 1 to 3 march 2005 Administration Building Bldg 60/61 - ground and 1st floor 09:30 - 17:30 Twenty nine companies will present their latest technology at the "Germany at CERN" exhibition. German industry will exhibit products and technologies related to the field of particle physics. The main sectors represented will be: mechanical engineering, particle detectors, electrical engineering, electronics, data processing, radiation protection and vacuum and low temperature techonology. The exhibition is organised by the Federal Minister of Education and Research (BMBF), Bonn. The exhibitors are listed below. A detailed programme will be available in due course: from your Departemental secretariat, from the reception information desk, Building 33, at the exhibition itself. A detailed list of the participating firms is already available at the following FI link: http://fi-dep.web.cern.ch/fi-dep/structure/memberstates/exhibitions_visits.htm LIST OF EXHIBITORS ACCEL Instruments GmbH APRA-NORM Elekt...

The CERN Accelerator School (CAS), the Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research GmbH (GSI) and the Technische Universität Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt) jointly organised a course on General Accelerator Physics, at intermediate level, at TU Darmstadt from 27 September to 9 October 2009. Participants in the CERN Accelerator School in Darmstadt, Germany. The Intermediate-level course followed established practice, with lectures on core topics in the mornings and specialised courses in the afternoons. The latter provided "hands-on" education and experience in the three selected topics: "RF Measurement Techniques", "Beam Instrumentation and Diagnostics" and "Optics Design and Correction". These proved to be highly successful, with participants choosing one course and following the topic throughout the school. Guided studies, tutorials, seminars and a poster session completed the programme. A visit to GSI and the F...

From 1 to 2 March 2005 Administration Building Bldg 60/61 - ground and 1st floor 09:30 - 17:30 Twenty nine companies will present their latest technology at the "Germany at CERN" exhibition. German industry will exhibit products and technologies related to the field of particle physics. The main sectors represented will be: mechanical engineering, particle detectors, electrical engineering, electronics, data processing, radiation protection and vacuum and low temperature techonology. The exhibition is organised by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Bonn. The exhibitors are listed below. A detailed programme will be available in due course: from your Departemental secretariat, from the reception information desk, Building 33, at the exhibition itself. A detailed list of the participating firms is already available at the following FI link: http://fi-dep.web.cern.ch/fi-dep/structure/memberstates/exhibitions_visits.htm LIST OF EXHIBITORS ACCEL Instruments GmbH APRA-NORM Elekt...

Full Text Available Foundations in Germany were examined in the context of environmental issues. Data from environmental foundations show that there is huge difference between private and public foundations concerning financial settings. Furthermore, environment is often not the only objective and sometimes not even processed. Our analysis shows that there are different types of foundations with regard to environmental scopes and activities. Although “attractive topics” such as biodiversity and landscape conservation seem to be more important to foundations, less visible topics such as pollution prevention remain merely a “blind spot.” Together, these findings suggest that there is only a limited potential of private foundations compared with public foundations. Nevertheless, there might be an impact on environmental awareness and local sustainability.

On 26 August 2010 the eastern part of The Netherlands and the bordering part of Germany were struck by a series of rainfall events. Over an area of 740 km2 more than 120 mm of rainfall were observed in 24 h. This extreme event resulted in local flooding of city centres, highways and agricultural fie

Full Text Available This article analyses the Baltic policy of united Germany from the 1990s until today. The authors set out to identify the significance of German-Baltic relations and the role of the Eastern policy in Russian-German relations. The method of dynamic comparison between the political and economic narrative in intergovernmental relations makes it possible to identify distinctive features of Germany’s Baltic policy in the context of current international relations. In particular, it is noted that Germany was most active in the Baltic region in the 1990s, when the country was establishing political, economic, and cultural ties with the new independent states. In the second half of the 1990s, Germany’s foreign policy became less intense. After the accession of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to the EU and NATO in 2004, certain disagreements started to arise between Germany and the Baltics. It explains the lukewarm relations between them. The Ukraine events brought about a change in Germany’s regional policy. Despite Russia remaining one of the key economic and political counteractors, Germany, being a partner of the Baltics in the EU and NATO, cannot adopt a neutral position in the conflict of interests between the Baltics and Russia.

Full Text Available Does EasternGermany differ significantly from Western part in economic terms? How have new Bundeslnder been developing over past twenty years? How fast has East been catching up with West? What could have hampered convergence? How today are German states equipped with factors determining future growth? How the new Bundeslnder performed do compared with the old ones? This paper seeks to address above mentioned questions. It offers a comprehensive review of key economic developments of two decades of reunited Germany. Particularly it examines current economic landscape; investigates convergence processes taking place since reunification and tries to identify most likely impediments hampering full catching up. Finally, it aims at assessing contemporary growth potential of German states. With respect to the starting point poor performance of East Germany back in 1990 the progress made and results achieved are impressive. Though, comparing the situation with Western part of the country significant discrepancies continue to exist. Certainly, assessment of the last twenty years of reunited Germany hinges much upon perspective taken. Two decades after Berlin Wall Fall opinions on economic consequences of reunification are more balanced, since much has been achieved, but much still needs to be done.

13 - 15 November 2001 Administration Building Bldg 60 - ground and 1st floor 09.00 hrs - 17.30 hrs OPENING CEREMONY 10h00 - 13 November GERMANY AT CERN Thirty-three German companies will be demonstrating their supplies and services offered for the construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and other key CERN programmes. The Industrial exhibition will be enriched with a display of objects of contemporary German art. The official German presentation is under the patronage of the Federal Minister of Education and Research (BMBF), Bonn. There follows : the list of exhibitors, the list of lectures to be given at the exhibition. A detailed programme will be available in due course at : your Divisional Secretariat, the Reception information desk, building 33, the exhibition. LIST OF EXHIBITORS Accel Instruments GmbH Representative: 1.1 Accel Instruments GmbH/CH-8754 Netsal apra-norm Elektromechanik GmbH Representative: 2.1 apra-norm s.n.c./F-67500 Haguenau Babcock Noell Nuclear GmbH Balcke-D&u...

13 - 15 November 2001 Administration Building Bldg 60 - ground and 1st floor 09.00 hrs - 17.30 hrs OPENING CEREMONY 10h00 - 13 November GERMANY AT CERN Thirty-three German companies will be demonstrating their supplies and services offered for the construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and other key CERN programmes. The Industrial exhibition will be enriched with a display of objects of contemporary German art. The official German presentation is under the patronage of the Federal Minister of Education and Research (BMBF), Bonn. There follows : the list of exhibitors, the list of lectures to be given at the exhibition. A detailed programme will be available in due course at : your Divisional Secretariat, the Reception information desk, building 33, the exhibition. LIST OF EXHIBITORS Accel Instruments GmbH Representative: 1.1 Accel Instruments GmbH/CH-8754 Netsal apra-norm Elektromechanik GmbH Representative: 2.1 apra-norm s.n.c./F-67500 Haguenau Babcock Noell Nuclear GmbH Balcke-D&u...

There have not been any population-based surveys in Germany to date on the frequency of various types of sexual behavior. The topic is of interdisciplinary interest, particularly with respect to the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. Within the context of a survey that dealt with multiple topics, information was obtained from 2524 persons about their sexual orientation, sexual practices, sexual contacts outside relationships, and contraception. Most of the participating women (82%) and men (86%) described themselves as heterosexual. Most respondents (88%) said they had engaged in vaginal intercourse at least once, and approximately half said they had engaged in oral intercourse at least once (either actively or passively). 4% of the men and 17% of the women said they had been the receptive partner in anal intercourse at least once. 5% of the respondents said they had had unprotected sexual intercourse outside their primary partnership on a single occasion, and 8% said they had done so more than once; only 2% of these persons said they always used a condom during sexual intercourse with their primary partner. Among persons reporting unprotected intercourse outside their primary partnership, 25% said they had undergone a medical examination afterward because of concern about a possible sexually transmitted infection. Among some groups of persons, routine sexual-medicine examinations may help contain the spread of sexually transmitted infections. One component of such examinations should be sensitive questioning about the types of sexual behavior that are associated with a high risk of infection. Information should be provided about the potential modes of transmission, including unprotected vaginal, oral, and anal intercourse outside the primary partnership.

Full Text Available Scientific background: The annual number of joint replacement operations in Germany is high. The introduction of an arthroplasty register promises an important contribution to the improvement of the quality of patient’s care. Research questions: The presented report addresses the questions on organization and functioning, benefits and cost-benefits as well as on legal, ethical and social aspects of the arthroplasty registers. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in September 2008 in the medical databases MEDLINE, EMBASE etc. and was complemented with a hand search. Documents describing arthroplasty registers and/or their relevance as well as papers on legal, ethical and social aspects of such registers were included in the evaluation. The most important information was extracted and analysed. Results: Data concerning 30 arthroplasty registers in 19 countries as well as one international arthroplasty register were identified. Most of the arthroplasty registers are maintained by national orthopedic societies, others by health authorities or by their cooperation. Mostly, registries are financially supported by governments and rarely by other sources.The participation of the orthopedists in the data collection process of the arthroplasty registry is voluntary in most countries. The consent of the patients is usually required. The unique patient identification is ensured in nearly all registers.Each data set consists of patient and clinic identification numbers, data on diagnosis, the performed intervention, the operation date and implanted prostheses. The use of clinical scores, patient-reported questionnaires and radiological documentation is rare. Methods for data documentation and transfer are paper form, electronic entry as well as scanning of the data using bar codes. The data are mostly being checked for their completeness and validity. Most registers offer results of the data evaluation to the treating orthopedists and

around 18%, with 15% of global electricity coming from hydroelectricity and 3% from new renewables. Wind power is growing at the rate of 30% annually, with a worldwide installed capacity of 158 (GW) in 2009, and is widely used in Europe, Asia, and the United States. At the end of 2009, cumulative global photovoltaic (PV) installations surpassed 21 GW and PV power stations are popular in Germany and Spain.

The launch of inter-governmental consultation ushers in a new era for Sino-German relations During his recent visit to Germany,Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao,together with German Chancellor Angela Merkel,inaugurated an inter-governmental cons ultation mechanism to enhance cooperation between the two countries.The two cochaired the first round of consultation in Berlin on June 28.This is a milestone in Sino-German relations since Germany is the first country to establish this kind of mecha-

Changes in economic, demographic, and cultural factors in West Germany during the past decades are briefly described, as well as changes in consumption patterns and the way the major marketing variables have been used and implemented. Special atte is paid to the upheavals caused by the German...... reunification. Implications for marketing management are drawn by proposing nine bipolar constructs....

The German educational system is battling with a range of challenges exposed by the PISA studies and other publications such as the OECD's "Education at a glance". This dissertation discusses four distinct topics, using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Data. In Germany, the socio-economic b

Mumps is an acute viral infectious disease characterized by fever and swelling and tenderness of one or more salivary glands, usually the parotid gland. Since 1976, the German Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) has recommended a mumps vaccination as part of the routine immunization schedule in former West Germany. In East Germany, the vaccination was only introduced in 1991 after reunification. In the preceding decades, no comprehensive surveillance system existed in Germany. However, for East Germany and the successional federal states of former East Germany, data on mumps incidence are available from different Eastern surveillance systems for the time period 1968-2012. According to these data, the incidence of mumps has dropped from > 200 cases/100,000 annually in the pre-vaccine era to currently epidemiology and the increase of outbreaks among adolescents and young adults, the implementation of a nationwide mandatory notification was initiated and came into effect in March 2013. Mandatory notification enables the early detection of outbreaks and obtainment of comprehensive data for evaluation of the immunization program in place. Regarding the long-term prevention of mumps in Germany, it is hoped that--as part of the measles and rubella elimination effort--coverage rates for the second MMR dose among children will increase nationwide above 95% and existing vaccination gaps among adults will be closed.

Health economics is now well established in Germany with the aim to apply economic tools to answer problems in health and health care. After a short review of the international development of health economics and the development in Germany in particular, the article looks at selected recent topics of health economic analysis in Germany (economic evaluation, industrial economics, health and education).

Full Text Available The author diagnoses the discursive shift in the core of Europe, where the neofascist tendency is not only a matter of the margins. It is not restricted to the cliche of the unemployed working class poor from EasternGermany, but rather it has migrated into the main political parties. As a symptomatic example of this neofascist turn the author analyzes the bestseller Germany Is Abolishing Itself, the literary and quasi-scientific achievement from Thillo Sarazzin, once a member of the German Federal Bank and still a member of Social Democrats. This recent best-seller made politically incorrect vocabulary on Muslims a legitimate scientific argument. In the light of contemporary neoliberal restructuring of the economic crisis, and the role Germany plays within it, one could start speaking about the rise of »nationalliberalism«.

Full Text Available Abstract Background Anopheles daciae, a newly described member of the Maculipennis group, was recently reported from western, southern and eastern Europe. Before its recognition, it had commonly been listed under the name of An. messeae, due to its extreme morphological and genetic similarities. As the sibling species of the Maculipennis group are known to differ in their vector competences for malaria parasites and other pathogens, the occurrence of An. daciae in a given region might have an impact on the epidemiology of mosquito-borne diseases. Mosquito collections from different localities in Germany were therefore screened for An. daciae. Methods Adult and immature Maculipennis group mosquitoes were collected between May 2011 and June 2012 at 23 different sites in eight federal states of Germany. A standard PCR assay was used to differentiate the previously known sibling species while the ITS2 rDNA of specimens preliminarily identified as An. messeae/daciae was sequenced and analysed for species-specific nucleotide differences. Results Four hundred and seventy-seven Anopheles specimens were successively identified to Maculipennis group level by morphology and to species level by DNA-based methods. Four species of the Maculipennis group were registered: An. messeae (n = 384, An. maculipennis (n = 82, An. daciae (n = 10 and An. atroparvus (n = 1. Anopheles daciae occurred at four sites in three federal states of Germany, three of the sites being located in north-easternGermany (federal states of Brandenburg and Saxony while one collection site was situated in the northern Upper Rhine Valley in the federal state of Hesse, south-western Germany. Conclusions The detection of An. daciae represents the first recognition of this species in Germany where it was found to occur in sympatry with An. messeae and An. maculipennis. As the collection sites were in both north-eastern and south-western parts of Germany, the species is

The assessment of the current impacts of extreme weather conditions on transport systems reveals high costs in specific locations. Prominent examples for Europe are the economic consequences of the harsh winter periods 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 and the floods in Austria, Eastern Europe, Germany and the United Kingdom in 2005 and 2007. Departing from the EC-funded project WEATHER, this paper delves into the subject of adaptation strategies by revisiting the project’s general findings on adaptati...

Organic food market is very challenging in Europe and developing rapidly with different rates between western and eastern part. Consumers have raised great interest to healthy and tasty diet with high nutritional compounds, confidence in food safety, environmental and animal welfare concern and also sustainability. This paper presents cross-cultural results for organic food consumers in Turkey and Germany. Quantitative data is collected by survey method consisting of structured...

With a view to the Eastern enlargement of the European Union (EU), political debate in Germany took a remarkable turn. After the 1990s little has remained of the earlier euphoria over German unification and the establishment of friendly relations with the country's Eastern European neighbors. In its stead there have been vehement demands for stricter accession criteria, greater reform of the EU, and the institution of transition periods for member candidates prior to full accession. This stud...

Full Text Available Regional inequalities are currently a challenge for the majority of the countries, in particular the large ones. The problem of public income redistribution emerges due to possible differentiation of the economic development level of territorial units. The most often considered problem is the vertical distribution. The horizontal division of income is far less frequently considered. Horizontal fiscal imbalance or regional tax inequalities seem to be graver than the vertical imbalance, particularly in developing countries. The public finance system, in particular in federations, is often very complex. Public finance of federations and federated states are not often based on the same assumptions. This leads to differences among regions, both vertical and horizontal. The use of the presented measures helps identify those differences and permits developing mechanisms equalising those inequalities. It should be remembered that those measures may have certain drawbacks, and they mainly focus on certain specific values of income redistribution. Thereby several measures should be applied in measurements and the obtained results should be compared. There are no up-to-date measurements and comparisons of horizontal fiscal imbalance among countries.. The aim of this paper is to measure horizontal fiscal imbalance in Germany, especially after reunification, which represents one of two models of federalism. At the beginning it shows the static and dynamic measurements presented in the literature that can be used to measure the horizontal fiscal imbalance. And then it is followed by the results of calculations for Germany in the period 1970-2013. As expected, horizontal imbalance was much lower before than after the reunification of Germany. After the reunification there were large disparities between "old" and "new" länder. This imbalance is gradually reduced. In comparison with the results obtained for the USA [Kowalik 2014, pp. 144-148] it can be said

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to give international readers an overview of the organisation, structure and curriculum, together with important advances and problems, of undergraduate medical education in Germany. Interest in medical education in Germany has been relatively low but has gained momentum with the new "Regulation of the Licensing of Doctors" which came into effect in 2003. Medical education had required substantial reform, particularly with respect to improving the links between theoretical and clinical teaching and the extension of interdisciplinary and topic-related instruction. It takes six years and three months to complete the curriculum and training is divided into three sections: basic science (2 years, clinical science (3 years and final clinical year. While the reorganisation of graduate medical education required by the new "Regulation of the Licensing of Doctors" has stimulated multiple excellent teaching projects, there is evidence that some of the stipulated changes have not been implemented. Indeed, whether the medical schools have complied with this regulation and its overall success remains to be assessed systematically. Mandatory external accreditation and periodic reaccreditation of medical faculties need to be established in Germany.

This issue is dedicated to nuclear programmes throughout the world. A few articles give an overview of the major trends of nuclear industry, from the standpoints of economy, industry, environment and international regulations. A few articles give an overview of the major trends of nuclear industry, from the standpoints of economy, industry, environment and international regulations. A few specific countries or groups of countries are then highlighted, together with a typical economic and political backgrounds. The countries dealt with are Germany, China, Korea, the U.S., Finland, Japan and Sweden. Some specific data are given on nuclear industry in Eastern Europe. (author)

Outpatient rheumatologic treatment in Germany is managed by rheumatologists in private practice (n = 557), by authorized rheumatism outpatient centers (n = 116), by rheumatism centers according to §116b (n = 43) and by university outpatient departments. A total number of 975 rheumatologists were registered by the end of 2012 of whom approximately 830 were active in outpatient care. With this number of rheumatologists Germany is in the middle range in comparison to eight industrial nations including the USA. This number is not sufficient to provide adequate medical care and the consequences are too long waiting times for an appointment with a rheumatologist. Statistical data of the Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung (KBV, National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians) showed 688,000 general insurance patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). As some 68.9 % of the population are in this insurance scheme there are some 770,000 RA patients in Germany (almost 1 % of the population). One way to improve rheumatology care in spite of the lack of rheumatologists could be special agreements with the general health insurance providers to improve cooperation and division of responsibilities between rheumatologists and general practitioners, to implement patient education, tighter control and treat to target in rheumatology care. Another way could be a new treatment level called "ambulant specialist care", with no budget for medical care and no budget for the number of patients treated and therefore the chance for rheumatologists to treat more patients and have a better income. To achieve that more young doctors receive approval as a specialist in rheumatology, more chairs of rheumatology at universities and a nationwide stipendium for training assistants are needed.

on an institutional theoretical framework, this article examines what aims firms pursue through the provision of ESO. The data originate from a survey of firms in Germany. The cluster analytic findings indicate distinctive patterns of relationships between aims and firm characteristics. Aims related to employee...... performance are most important to foreign-owned firms, financial aims are most important to non-public small and medium-sized firms and aims related to corporate image are most important to big firms and to firms that do not provide profit sharing. Aims related to employee attraction and retention are almost...

For various reasons, the policies governing the energy sector have a central role to play in Germany. Thus, for example, competition on the electricity and gas markets will have to be increased considerably in the course of the market's liberalization. At the same time, a secure supply of energy must also be ensured, in other words, the matters of preventing short-term power outages while ensuring the long-term availability of energy resources must be dealt with. Last but not least, the envir...

In 1994, the WAT (Wasser-und Abfalltechnik GmbH) office building, with various energy-saving features, was erected in Karlsruhe, Germany. The office building, net area 1,500 m{sup 2}, incorporates: facade-integrated solar air collectors preheating the ventilation air; exhaust air extraction through a solar chimney; heat recovery from ventilation air; concrete floors with integrated air ducts and no suspended ceilings. During the design phase, TRNSYS was used to determine the performance of the building and the solar system. (author)

With its reunification on 3 October 1990, Germany regained its full sovereignty and stands now in a position of greater global responsibility. Faced with dramatically increased demands on and expectations for Germany's armed forces, it must answer the question of how much it is willing to invest for safety and stability in Europe and for protection of peace in the world. In determining the level of commitment behind Germany's foreign and security policy, defense spending is an important indic...

When the EU launched the Eastern Partnership (EaP) in 2009, it did so with much rhetoric about projecting its soft power into Eastern Europe. Yet today, the EU's soft power project seems to have stalled, with developments in the region being less than favourable. This article argues that the EaP ...

This article presents how the fast expansion of information technology industry in eastern Slovakia is putting a strain on its labor supply. Suddenly, computer-science graduates have become one of the former Eastern Bloc's greatest assets, attracting multinational technology companies hungry for skilled programmers, technicians, and engineers.…

The aim of this study is to assess and map the seismic risk for Germany, restricted to the expected losses of damage to residential buildings. There are several earthquake prone regions in the country which have produced Mw magnitudes above 6 and up to 6.7 corresponding to observed ground shaking intensity up to VIII-IX (EMS-98). Combined with the fact that some of the earthquake prone areas are densely populated and highly industrialized and where therefore the hazard coincides with high concentration of exposed assets, the damaging implications from earthquakes must be taken seriously. In this study a methodology is presented and pursued to calculate the seismic risk from (1) intensity based probabilistic seismic hazard, (2) vulnerability composition models, which are based on the distribution of residential buildings of various structural types in representative communities and (3) the distribution of assets in terms of replacement costs for residential buildings. The estimates of the risk are treated as primary economic losses due to structural damage to residential buildings. The obtained results are presented as maps of the damage and risk distributions. For a probability level of 90% non-exceedence in 50 years (corresponding to a mean return period of 475 years) the mean damage ratio is up to 20% and the risk up to hundreds of millions of euro in the most endangered communities. The developed models have been calibrated with observed data from several damaging earthquakes in Germany and the nearby area in the past 30 years.

Even the freezing cold of a Beijing winter could not stop Duke Alexander’s China visit last December. As the IPo divisional director of Deutsche Boerse AG, Alexander visited China five times in six months, with the aim of helping the first Chinese enter-prises in history to launch their IPOs on Deutsche Boerse AG. He revealed that “in the first quarter of 2007, the first Chinese enterprise will trade on the Deutsche Boerse AG.”Deutsche Boerse AG’s IPO seminar, held in Beijing, attracted many Chinese entrepreneurs looking into listing their companies in Germany. The vice president of a Beijing investment company said that his company was considering an IPO through either the London AIM or Deutsche Boerse AG. “Deutsche Boerse AG’ sfee for launching an IPO is 20 percent lower than that of AIM, but also involves addressing the requirement that the company must be estab-lished in Germany,” he said. The businessman said he was still undecided on the final destination of his company’s IPO launch. Why have there been no Chinese IPOs on the Deutsche Boerse AG in the past?Why would a Chinese enterprise want to list on the Deutsche Boerse AG? What strategies has Deutsche Boerse AG implemented to compete with other prestigious global stock exchanges? We explored these questions in an exclusive interview with Alexander.

The frequent occurrence of the cyanobacterial toxin cylindrospermopsin (CYN) in the (sub)tropics has been largely associated with cyanobacteria of the order Nostocales of tropical origin, in particular Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii. C. raciborskii is currently observed to spread northwards into temperate climatic zones. In addition, further cyanobacteria of the order Nostocales typically inhabiting water bodies in temperate regions are being identified as CYN-producers. Therefore, data on the distribution of CYN in temperate regions are necessary for a first assessment of potential risks due to CYN in water used for drinking and recreation. A total of 127 lakes situated in the north-eastern part of Germany were investigated in 2004 for the presence of the toxin CYN and the phytoplankton composition. The toxin could be detected in half of the lakes (n = 63) and in half of 165 samples (n = 88). Concentrations reached up to 73.2 microg CYN/g DW. CYN thus proved more widely distributed than previously demonstrated. The analyses of phytoplankton data suggest Aphanizomenon sp. and Anabaena sp. as important CYN producers in Germany, and confirm recent findings of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae as CYN-producing species frequently inhabiting water bodies in temperate climatic regions. The data shown here suggest that CYN may be an important cyanobacterial toxin in German water bodies and that further data are needed to assess this.

Reviews the economic restoration of West Germany through the Marshall Plan following World War II. Traces the development of the European Community from the Schuman Declaration of 1950 to the present. Contends that Germany's economy must remain closely tied to a united Europe in the post-Cold War international system. (CFR)

The purpose of the present study was to examine the protective and risk factors of mental distress among Turkish women living in Germany.......The purpose of the present study was to examine the protective and risk factors of mental distress among Turkish women living in Germany....

At the invitation of the Germany-China Friendship Association-Stuttgart (GCFA-Stuttgart) and the Austrian-Chinese Friendship Association (ACFA),a delegation for studying agriculture composed of members from localities organized and sent by the CPAFFC paid a visit to Germany and Austria from June 11 to 23. The delegation visited farms and

Provides 10 reasons why the study of Germany and the European Community should be taught in U.S. social studies. Argues that the cultural interrelationships between the United States and Germany are historically significant. Contends that the experiences of post-World War II German reconstruction and the reunification after the Cold War can serve…

Full Text Available The first record of Crossopriza lyoni (Blackwall, 1867 from Germany is presented. The species seems to be established at two localities in Stuttgart, Germany. Some information about the biology of the populations is given. The cosmopolitan distribution pattern and a possible route of introduction are discussed.

Germany is leaving the age of fossil fuel behind. In building a sustainable energy future, photovoltaics is going to have an important role. The following summary consists of the most recent facts, figures and findings and shall assist in forming an overall assessment of the photovoltaic expansion in Germany.

"What do we owe each other?" Variously grounded postulates and theories of social justice try to answer this question with regard to health. Equality of opportunity is widely acclaimed and in Germany also anchored in social security laws. From the perspective of equal opportunity, the author examines the state of affairs and the perspectives of equity in health. Although the deficiencies with regard to access and quality of health care are significant, but relatively moderate, they present serious threats to equity and fairness for the future. Regarding non-medical primary prevention, the reduction of inequality in health has barely begun. The largest obstacles to equity in health are to be found in the distribution and dynamics of opportunities for education, work and income. One of the tasks of public health professionals is to place the health consequences of existing policies on the political agenda.

This papers examines the quantitative and qualitative labour market integration of recent young EU migrant citizens in Germany and the UK, separately for citizens from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Romania and Bulgaria, and Southern European countries. It estimates weighted-proportions from G...... participation of young EU migrants  a labour market segmentation for young EU migrant citizen from CEE and Bulgaria, who experience more precarious work in both Germany and the UK.......This papers examines the quantitative and qualitative labour market integration of recent young EU migrant citizens in Germany and the UK, separately for citizens from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Romania and Bulgaria, and Southern European countries. It estimates weighted-proportions from...... market outcomes of all migrants, ignoring a potential double-labour market disadvantage of migrant youth. Routinely, EU migrants’ labour market outcomes are compared for EU-15 and CEE countries, rather than separately and against third country nationals. This paper finds two things:  a high labour force...

... bite of an infected mosquito. Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) is a rare illness in humans, and only ... EEEV have no apparent illness. Severe cases of EEE (involving encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain) begin ...

Full Text Available In this study, the impact of climate change scenarios on the hydrological regimes of five different regions in Germany is investigated. These regions (Northwest Germany, Northeast Germany and East German basins, upper and lower Rhine, pre-Alps differ with respect to present climate and projected climate change. The physically based SVAT-model SIMULAT is applied to theoretical soil columns based on combinations of land use, soil texture and groundwater depth to quantify climate change effects on the hydrological regime. Observed climate, measured at climate stations of the German Weather Service (1991–2007, is used for comparison with climate projections (2071–2100 generated by the regional scale climate model WETTREG.

While all climate scenarios implicate an increase in precipitation in winter, a decrease in precipitation in summer and an increase in temperature, the simulated impacts on the hydrological regime are regionally different. In the Rhine region and in Northwest Germany, an increase in the annual runoff and groundwater recharge is simulated despite the increase in temperature and potential evapotranspiration. In the Eastern part of Germany and the pre-Alps, annual runoff and groundwater recharge will decrease. Due to dry conditions in summer, the soil moisture deficit will increase (in Northeast Germany and the East German basins in particular or remain constant (Rhine region. In all regions the seasonal variability in runoff and soil moisture status will increase. Despite regional warming actual evapotranspiration will decrease in most regions except in areas with shallow groundwater tables and the lower Rhine. Although the study is limited by the fact that only one climate model was used to drive one hydrologic model, the study shows that the hydrological regime will be affected by climate change. The direction of the expected changes seems to be obvious as well as the necessity of the adaptation of future water

Full Text Available This article will discuss the influence of visual art in Nazi Germany from two parts of visual arts, which are political photography and poster propaganda, analyzing the unique social and historical stage of Nazi Germany. And it emphasizes the ideology of the Nazis, which in Nazi Germany inflamed the political sentiment of the masses and took the visual art as their important instrument of political propaganda, while Nazi party used visual art on anti-society and war which is worth warning and criticizing for later generation.

One of the most important events in the world after World War II was the reunification of Germany, during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The aim of this paper is to discuss the general economic conditions in Germany, before and after the reunification. This paper is divided into four parts. The introductory section provides a summative discussion of the economic conditions in East and West Germany from World War II until the time of reunification. The second section presents an evaluation of...

Both pentaerythrithyltetranitrate (Pentalong, PETN) and isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) are commonly used in the therapy of ischemic heart disease (IHD). However, little is known about the therapeutic patterns in diabetic patients and no comparative data are available regarding the prescription costs of these two substances. Thus, the aim of this investigation was to compare the costs for PETN and ISDN therapy in diabetic patients in primary care. All continuously treated patients aged > or = 40 years with diabetes (anti-diabetic agents) and IHD or angina pectoris (ICD codes) and newly started on PETN or ISDN therapy (index date) in the period 2000-2005 were selected from a database containing data from 400 practices throughout Germany (Disease Analyzer, IMS Health). Prescriptions costs for PETN and ISDN, as well as costs for cardiovascular comedication, were determined for the period 183 days before and after the index date, and that changes in costs after the index date were calculated. Differences in costs between the two groups were evaluated using multivariate regression, adjusting for age, sex and comorbidity. Patients in Eastern (n = 137, age 71 +/- 10 years, 55% male) and Western Germany (n = 212, age 73 +/- 9 years, 50% male) were analyzed separately since there is a longer history of PETN use in EasternGermany. Significantly more patients were treated with PETN in EasternGermany (61 vs. 11%, p PETN and ISDN differed with respect to sex and comorbidity. PETN therapy was more expensive than ISDN therapy in both German regions (adjusted cost differences were 10 and 17 Euro). However, when comedication was taken into account, a smaller cost increase after the index date was observed in the PETN group than in the ISDN group (non-significant cost savings of 43 and 52 Euro after adjustment for Western and EasternGermany, respectively). PETN therapy tends to produce a saving in costs compared to ISDN therapy in diabetic patients when costs for comedication are

Recently concerns are increasing that dirofilarial nematodes may spread from endemic areas in southern, eastern and central Europe to countries in northern regions of Europe. The increasing number of autochthonous cases of canine Dirofilaria repens infections in Germany indicates that worms of this genus may invade new areas, and climate change may be a key factor in this scenario. Thus analysis of long term development of regional temperature is a pivotal factor in risk analysis related to transmission of these worms. Such information is important for suggestions of counteracting strategies, such as definition of periods of increased transmission risk and, consequently, time slots most suited for preventative measures. In this study, mean daily temperature data from 34 geographical clustered weather stations representing all parts of Germany were analyzed. It is concluded that the increasing trend for average daily temperatures observed in the period from 1984 to 2013 has led to climatic conditions that allow the completion of dirofilarial life cycles in large parts of Germany between May and October. Autochthonous infection with D. repens is already established in some regions and targeted diagnosis and medical prophylaxis is advisable for dogs assumedly exposed during risk of transmission periods. It appears likely that global warming will support further spread of D. repens. Furthermore for the population of dogs the spread of the more pathogenic species D. immitis in hitherto non-endemic Germany is a potential risk if mean temperatures rise to a level suitable for parasite development in the abundant vector mosquitoes during the warmer seasons.

In Germany, plasmapheresis is carried out for many years in a "mixed" system by private and non-profit organisation. Most of the institutions and blood transfusion service, active in the field of plasmapheresis are members of the "Association for the Establishment, Co-ordination and Working Methods of the Plasmapheresis Centres". All centres are authorized by governmental bodies for manufacturing of pharmaceutical products with regulatory controls regarding licensing and accreditation of blood collection establishment. All parties concerned agree that self-sufficiency of plasma has to be achieved. For this purpose there is a shortage of about 400,000 1 of plasma. In 1994, about 240,000 1 of plasma were collected by plasmapheresis, 91% for fractionation and 8.7% for direct clinical uses. In addition about 970,000 1 of plasma were derived from whole blood donations. The dualism of non-profit making and commercial organisations should be regarded as a chance for diversification in the collection and processing of plasma. A long term increase in plasmapheresis plasma can be achieved by initiating plasmapheresis programmes and co-operation using the existing infrastructures and supports the aim for self-sufficiency.

When the two Germanies were reunited in 1990, 16 million East Germans were added to the West German population, giving it a 20 million person advantage over Italy, France and the United Kingdom. This report traces the history of German population growth from the 1870s through World War II and up to the present. The authors examine the demographic trends of the new Germany and the prospects for future growth. Until 1990, marriage, fertility, and mortality followed different paths in the...

Immigrants consist of foreigners and citizens with migration background. We analyze the wage gap between natives and these two groups in Germany. The estimates show a substantial gap for both groups with respect to natives. Discarding immigrants who completed education abroad reduces much of the immigrants' wage gap. This implies educational attainment in Germany is an important component of economic integration and degrees obtained abroad are valued less.

Full Text Available Germany's presidency of the European Council in the first half of 1999 has focused the attention of schlolars on Germany's attitude towards the EU. Germany's European policy has been guided from the beginning by a pro-European vision of 'the house of Europe'. The hypothesis of the article is that this paradigm of German European policy is in flux. Via a constructivist approach it is argued that we are observing a paradigm shift away from a visionary towards a pragmatic European policy which is oriented around efficiency criteria and national interest. Evidence is given by analysing the following propositions: (1 the advocates of a European vision have vanished in Germany, and the broad coalition in society towards Europe is crumbling; (2 at the same time the discussion on Europe has become highly politicised; (3 in addition, important German institutions such as the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht are reluctant to (re-strengthen the European idea; and (4 the fit between Germany's and the EU's institutional setting supports the change in paradigm. In conclusion it is argued that Germany is on its way to changing its role from that of a supporting participant to that of a self-confident active player.

The promotion of interaction among investigators of all oceanographic disciplines studying the eastern Pacific Ocean was the goal of the 1990 Eastern Pacific Ocean Conference (EPOC), held October 17-19 on the snow-covered slopes of Mt. Hood, Oreg. Thirty oceanographers representing all disciplines attended.Dick Barber, Duke University Marine Lab, Beaufort, N.C., chaired a session on the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, emphasizing issues related to biological activity. Steve Ramp of the Naval Postgraduate School in Montery, Calif., chaired a session on recent results from northern and central California experiments. On October 19, following an early morning earthquake, a business meeting and discussions regarding a collaboration in future experiments were held.

Founded 2011 the TUM Critical Zone Observatory run by the Technische Universität München and partners abroad is the first CZO within Germany. TUM CZO is both, a scientific as well as an education project. It is a watershed based observatory, but moving behind this focus. In fact, two mountainous areas are integrated: (1) The Ammer Catchment area as an alpine and pre alpine research area in the northern limestone Alps and forelands south of Munich; (2) the Otter Creek Catchment in the Bavarian Forest with a crystalline setting (Granite, Gneiss) as a mid mountainous area near Regensburg; and partly the mountainous Bavarian Forest National Park. The Ammer Catchment is a high energy system as well as a sensitive climate system with past glacial elements. The lithology shows mostly carbonates from Tertiary and Mesozoic times (e.g. Flysch). Source-to-sink processes are characteristic for the Ammer Catchment down to the last glacial Ammer Lake as the regional erosion and deposition base. The consideration of distal depositional environments, the integration of upstream and downstream landscape effects are characteristic for the Ammer Catchment as well. Long term datasets exist in many regards. The Otter Creek catchment area is developed in a granitic environment, rich in saprolites. As a mid mountainous catchment the energy system is facing lower stage. Hence, it is ideal comparing both of them. Both TUM CZO Catchments: The selected catchments capture the depositional environment. Both catchment areas include historical impacts and rapid land use change. Crosscutting themes across both sites are inbuilt. Questions of ability to capture such gradients along climosequence, chronosequence, anthroposequence are essential.

This article provides a detailed analysis of recent fertility changes in 15 countries of central and eastern Europe and in the former East Germany. It focuses on the period after 1989, which witnessed a profound transformation in childbearing patterns, including a rapid decline in fertility rates, t

The main cause of the sulphurous acidity found in about 100 mining lakes in easternGermany is oxidation of pyrite from surface lignite mining. Methods for neutralization of these lakes into well functioning ecosystems are described, in particular, water pollution abatement and the related problems of salinization, contamination, eutrophication, saprobization, and infection. The chemical characteristics and life conditions of the acidic environment and acidification control are discussed. Several ways to foster alkalinity production by microbial processes are outlined. 25 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.

This cross-national examination of the motives behind adolescent approval of violence in major cities in Germany and four Eastern European transformation societies (Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Slovenia draws on Institutional Anomie Theory (IAT, which leads us to expect higher instrumental motivation for violence among adolescents in the transforming societies. Differences in institutional structure and cultural orientations between Germany and the Eastern European societies are assessed using data from ILO and ESS. Analysis of the different motives for violence is based on data collected by the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN in Kraków, Volgograd, Ljubljana, Plzen, and Hamburg. Comparability and cross-cultural interpretability of the violence

attitude measure is assessed by applying confirmatory factor analyses in multi-group comparisons. A lack of sufficient data meant that specific assumed linkages as implied by IAT could not be established, but the results for a specific instrumental/utilitarian motive for violence and for institutional structure and cultural orientations point to the utility of applying insights from IAT to understanding the dynamics of violence within the Eastern European context of transformation.

We find empirical indications that specific features of the family mediate the “Eastern effect” on the instrumental/utilitarian motive. Further research is needed to discover whether economic dominance affects motives for youth violence indirectly via the socialization provided by non-economic institutions rather than directly via cultural orientations.

Dongcheng District, literally meaning eastern city, covers Beijing’s downtown area to the northeast of the central axis of old Beijing. The district has a total area of 25 square km and a population of 600,000. With a large number of cultural and historical sites and tourist attractions,

Eastern spruce dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium pusillum) is a parasitic flowering plant that causes the most serious disease of black spruce (Picea mariana) throughout its range. The parasite occurs in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland; in the Lake States of Minnesota,...

This study was specifically designed to investigate the frequency response of the Eastern Interconnection that results from large loss-of-generation events of the type targeted by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. Standard BAL-003 Frequency Response and Frequency Bias Setting (NERC 2012a), under possible future system conditions with high levels of wind generation.

In some patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) chronic hyperglycemia leads to microvascular complications in retina, kidney and nerves. Concerning missing data from Germany cited prevalence in German educational books and guidelines arise from other countries. This review demonstrates the prevalence of diabetic comorbidities in Germany. The largest investigation in Germany is the Disease-Management-Programm Nordrhein with more than 450.000 surveyed DM patients. These researches show good comparability with most analyses respective to the prevalence of diabetic comorbidities in Germany. Patients with DM2 have a mean Hba1c of 7 % and patients with DM1 of 7.9 %. In patients with DM2 the prevalence of retinopathy is 11 %, nephropathy 10 % and neuropathy 20 %. Co-morbidities are more commonin patients with long diabetes duration and high HbA1c. In patients with DM1 the prevalence of retinopathy is 25 %, of nephropathy 15 % and neuropathy 27 %. The prevalence of diabetic co-morbidities in primary care in Germany is considerably lower as mentioned in educational books or guidelines. This positive development is reasonable through a better quality of care, nationwide early detection examinations and training programmes.

In this short paper an overlook is given of the systems developed in Germany for filtered containment venting and their implementation in nuclear power plants. More information on the development can be found in the Proceedings of the DOE/NRC Aircleaning Conferences. In Germany, 28.8 % of the electric energy is produced by 19 nuclear power reactors. No new power reactor is expected to be built at least within the next ten years, but France and Germany cooperate in the development of a future European Power Reactor (ERP). This reactor type will be fitted with a core catcher and passive cooling in order to avoid serious consequences of a hypothetical core meltdown accident so that provisions for containment venting are not required. 3 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.

Full Text Available This article deals with the DFG Viewer for Interoperability, a free and open source web-based viewer for digitised books, and assesses its relevance for interoperability in Germany. First the specific situation in Germany is described, including the important role of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation. The article then moves on to the overall concept of the viewer and its technical background. It introduces the data formats and standards used, it briefly illustrates how the viewer works and includes a few examples.

The Western Group of the Trichterbecherkultur (TRB Culture) built the megalithic monuments in Northwest Germany and The Netherlands. These monuments include different types of megaliths belonging to the TRB-West group, among which the most common are Passage Graves. We have obtained data for 163 monuments in this area in three campaigns. The present study completes two previous communications at SEAC meetings. We consider that the measured sample is largely competed and therefore we attempt a full analysis of the data. We have measured the orientation of the chamber and passages (where possible) for the Passage Graves, and for the so-called Langebetten. The general orientation of the chamber of the Passage Graves is east west, with another concentration of monuments at azimuths around 70 degrees. The passage is always located to the southern or eastern sides of the chamber. Possible astronomical explanations involving the Sun and the Moon are attempted. We find a preference towards lunar orientations. The general orientation of the Langebetten is similar to the Passage Graves although a preference to significant positions of the Sun and Moon is detected. Finally we perform a comparison with data from the literature of other TRB groups and give a tentative explanation for the evolution of the megaliths and their orientation.

The joint Society of Nephrology in Germany, Switzerland and Austria was founded on April 10th, 1961 in Wiesbaden. Board members were Hans Sarre, Kurt Kramer, Klaus Rother, Francois Reubi, Bruno Watschinger, Wolfgang Dutz, Ernst Wollheim and Karl Ullrich. The mission of the society was an intensive interaction between basic science of the kidney (anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, biochemistry and molecular biology) and clinical research in nephrology and hypertension. Every year scientific symposia took place in different venues in one of the three countries, except in the years between 1963-1987, when the congresses of the International Society of Nephrology took place. Practical issues of clinical nephrology, in particular renal replacement therapy (dialysis and transplantation), were covered since 1971 by a specific Working Group. In 1994 the Advisory Board (Kuratorium) of the Society of Nephrology was founded as a result of an initiative of Peter Weidmann (Bern). Its main goals were Update Seminars in Nephrology and Hypertensionin Eastern Europe, in part together with the Joint Action of Nephrology and an Eastern European ScholarshipProgram. Despite the prosperous work of this European society within nearly five decades in Germany a national society was founded as well, which combined all activities of nephrology in one organization. The German Society of Nephrology was founded in 2009.

The elimination of measles and rubella by 2015 is an important goal set by the World Health Organization European Region (WHO/Europa). Since 1991, the incidence of measles in WHO/Europa declined owing to routine childhood vaccination and supplementary immunization activities in the region. However, in many countries of Western Europe elimination of measles and rubella remains a challenge, and every year there are outbreaks with partly long-lasting transmission chains and dissemination of the virus internationally. In Germany, outbreaks occur because of the high proportion of susceptible individuals in specific population groups. In 2011, over 1,600 cases were reported (19.7 per 1,000,000 inhabitants, data from the Robert Koch Institute) whereas in 2012 only 167 cases were reported to the Robert Koch Institute (2 per 1,000,000 inhabitants). It is unclear whether the declining trend will continue in the following years due to improved vaccination coverage or whether number of cases will rise again because of the accumulation of susceptible groups. In Germany, there are currently no representative, country-wide data on rubella; however, data from the eastern federal states provide important epidemiological insights. Outbreaks are seldom reported, but statutory notification of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome was implemented in March 2013. As a result, it will be possible to better assess the epidemiology of rubella in Germany, although a considerable underreporting of rubella cases is anticipated.

This article looks into the managerial aspects related to why and how Germany won the 2014 FIFA World Cup.......This article looks into the managerial aspects related to why and how Germany won the 2014 FIFA World Cup....

This article looks into the managerial aspects related to why and how Germany won the 2014 FIFA World Cup.......This article looks into the managerial aspects related to why and how Germany won the 2014 FIFA World Cup....

This paper discusses the influence of the two main climatic features (solar radiation and temperature) on the performance of passive solar systems in West Germany. Evaluations were made for the four climatic zones - German Lowlands, German Highlands, Alp Foreland, Alps. These zones differ in solar radiation, temperature and diurnal temperature swings. To evaluate different passive solar systems (direct gain, Trombe wall, water wall) a prototypical dwelling was designed which responded to the environmental conditions. The calculations of the ''Solar Savings Fraction'' (SSF) of each systems were made with a program based on the 'LCR-method'. The paper concludes that although the heating requirements decrease with decreasing latitude and altitude, the SSF is nearly the same for all parts of Germany. They are in a range of +- 5%. This is due to the fact that two main climatic features solar radiation and temperature balance each other. In northern Germany the man solar radiation level is low and so is the number of heating degree days. The conditions in southern Germany are reverse.

Examines multilingual settings in Canada and Germany and explores the differentiation between second- and third-language acquisition as well as the differentiation between acquisition and learning. The article outlines priority areas for further research and presents the prospects for a greater recognition of multilingualism as a resource in…

This study examined the sexual victimization of 309 female students in Germany. The results indicate that the majority of the subjects have been victims of minor offenses and that a minority of subjects was severely victimized. As to the relation of victim and perpetrator, the milder offenses are more likely to be committed by strangers. In…

At the invitation of Norway Moral Rearmament (MRA) and German Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES), CAFIU delegation headed by Mr. Zhu Dacheng, Vice-President of CAFIU visited Norway and Germany in the middle of May. As a member ofthe delegation,

"Germany's high-energy particle physicists have formed a network to increase their international visibility and competitiveness as their field gears up for the start next ear of the Large Hadron Collide (LHC) at CERN and, eventually, the International Linear Collider." (1 page)

The current paper discusses the evolution of earnings inequality in Germany with an eye to its potential lessons for China. Inequality is assessed from two different perspectives: the distribution of annual earnings, and the distribution of lifetime earnings. This paper proposes to implement closer monitoring of lifetime earnings and take a proactive stance in the formation of the wage-bargaining regime.

The Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is of great concern to public health authorities due to its vector competence and rapid spread across the globe. In 2015, two large local breeding populations of Ae. albopictus were discovered in southwest Germany. In spring 2016, we were able to demonstrate the first evidence of a successful overwintering in Germany of this originally tropical mosquito species in different research projects. Particularly noteworthy is the successful hatching of diapause eggs of an Italian strain (Calabria), which overwintered successfully in the field in St. Georgen im Schwarzwald (Baden-Wuerttemberg) at 820 m above sea level. Furthermore, within the scope of a larvae monitoring, the first larvae that hatched in the field were detected on the April 09, 2016 in a rain barrel within the Heidelberg population. Our first results show that self-extinction due to an unsuccessful overwintering cannot be assumed for populations of the Asian tiger mosquito which settled in Germany in previous years. The evidence of a successful overwintering of a large number of diapause eggs and the hatching of the first larvae in field conditions opens the control year against Ae. albopictus in southwest Germany.

Abraham A. Fraenkel was a world-renowned mathematician in pre–Second World War Germany, whose work on set theory was fundamental to the development of modern mathematics. A friend of Albert Einstein, he knew many of the era’s acclaimed mathematicians personally. He moved to Israel (then Palestine under the British Mandate) in the early 1930s. In his autobiography Fraenkel describes his early years growing up as an Orthodox Jew in Germany and his development as a mathematician at the beginning of the twentieth century. This memoir, originally written in German in the 1960s, has now been translated into English, with an additional chapter covering the period from 1933 until his death in 1965 written by the editor, Jiska Cohen-Mansfield. Fraenkel describes the world of mathematics in Germany in the first half of the twentieth century, its origins and development, the systems influencing it, and its demise. He also paints a unique picture of the complex struggles within the world of Orthodox Jewry in Germany....

@@ "China and Germany are longterm trade partners, The volume of our bilateral trade has reached more than $54 Million in 2004, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder have agreed to double our bilateral trade volume by the year 2010." Dr. Volker Stanzel,German Ambassador gave an active appraise on the bilateral trade relations when interviewed by China's Foreign Trade.

Kayhude at the river Alster and Schlamersdorf at the river Trave, both in Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany. Measurements on modern materials from these rivers may not give a single reservoir age correction that can be applied to archaeological samples, but they will show the order of magnitude...

In Short Germany as well as Denmark are focusing on the same issues regarding Dementia, as other European Countries are, too. The key issues in the national strategies are: timely diagnosis, self-determination for the person with dementia, unbroken “care chain”, better possibilities for the relief...... of informal carers (relatives), balanced view on assistive technology, destigmatisation and support of autonomy....

Edelgard Bulmahn, the research minister for Germany's coalition government is to make up a shortfall in the budgets of the Max Planck Society (MPS) and the Deutsche Forshungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and will add an extra five per cent to each in 1999.

Interest in the American Indian in West Germany is high. Romantic notions, derived from the novels of 19th century German writer Karl May and American westerns shown on German television, combined with a subtle anti-Americanism might be responsible for the American Indian Movement (AIM) support groups that have been forming among students and…

This dissertation addresses a significant gap in the historiography of science: the nature of the language sciences as "science." Focusing on disciplinary and intellectual developments in the context of Imperial Germany (1871-1918), the project anticipates, complicates, and helps to explain a widely recognized theoretical shift, namely,…

This article presents a very general survey of tracks and trends in music education research in Germany and its roots in the 19th century, where the beginning of empirical music psychology can be traced back to "Tonpsychologie" and perception research of scholars such as Helmholtz, Stumpf, Wundt, and Wellek. Focus areas that are addressed in the…

The general structure of higher education finance in Germany and current and possible future developments in German higher education financing are analyzed. A shift from input budgeting to a more output-oriented steering of higher education is identified. Methods of dealing with the problems introduced by new mechanisms of decision making and fund…

Examines multilingual settings in Canada and Germany and explores the differentiation between second- and third-language acquisition as well as the differentiation between acquisition and learning. The article outlines priority areas for further research and presents the prospects for a greater recognition of multilingualism as a resource in…

Full Text Available This paper traces the main macroeconomic developments in the German economy from national unification. Its performance is compared with that of the rest of the euro area and its largest economies. The study documents as GermanyÕs modest growth in the later 1990s was due to the restrictive impact on domestic demand coming from the deep restructuring and modernization of the production system, followed by sweeping reforms after the turn of the century. Rapid productivity increases and prolonged wage moderation, especially in industry, fuelled a large and mounting current account surplus in Germany, that compares with the deficits registered in most European countries. The study retraces the recent debate on how to correct those imbalances, recalling the arguments for and against the thesis that the countries with a current payments surplus, above all Germany, must also play an active role in fostering the adjustment of the deficit countries. A possible synthesis is proposed, based on an analysis of the formation of national income and the use of resources according to the national accounts system. The implication is that Germany may contribute to the correction of imbalances within the euro area not so much by altering the wage formation mechanism as by creating incentives for domestic investment, hence fostering employment creation, in the service sectors that are currently lagging behind the extraordinary perfomance of a number of core activities in the industry.

This paper analyses the role of bank lending in the monetary transmission process in Germany. We follow a sectoral approach by distinguishing corporate lending and household lending. We find that banks respond to a monetary contraction by adjusting their securities holdings, rather than reducing the

The relationship between poverty and several health-related characteristics in West Germany was investigated. Data were derived from the National and Regional Health Surveys conducted in West Germany from 1984 to 1992. 25,544 males and 25,719 females with German nationality aged 25-69 years were examined. Poverty was defined as a household income of 50% less than the mean for West Germany. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between poverty and four health variables: individual health behavior, subjective assessment of health status, cardiovascular disease risk factors, and self-reported prevalence of lifetime chronic diseases. 10.2% of males and 12.8% of females were classified as being below the poverty line. For most but not all health parameters, less favourable results were found for the segment of the population with a household income below the poverty line. The most striking poverty-related differences were observed for lack of regular sport activities, subjective health satisfaction, obesity and myocardial infarction/stroke. Significantly lower prevalence rates for study subjects below the poverty line were observed for hypercholesterolemia in females only. Allergic disorders were the only chronic diseases reported significantly less often in males and females below the poverty line. Poverty has strong effects on individual health status and the prevalence of chronic diseases. Due to the rising unemployment rates in Germany in the last years it is very likely that the strong negative consequences of poverty for health are increasing.

Although Taiwan is located in the active collision zone between Eurasian and the Philippine Sea plate with very high seismicity in and surrounding the island, and supposedly highly susceptible to tsunami hazard. However, there is no record of tsunami hazard in the past one hundred years, and only very few historical records show some possible extreme event occurred. Therefore study of tsunami was scarce in Taiwan. Although historical records do show possible tsunami events, the records were too sparse and incomplete to confidently reconstruct the paleotsunami events. In the past few years, numerical simulations based on possible tsunami-genic zones near Taiwan show that the island could be affected by the correctly directed tsunami. Nevertheless, there is no detail, scientific research of paleotsunami records yet in Taiwan. Our field survey in eastern Taiwan (facing the western Pacific Ocean) along the coast uncovered several outcrops contain gravels embedded in well-developed soil layers. The rounded meta-sandstone gravels are clearly beach-origin and were brought to their current location upon extreme wave events, which is composed of either volcanic-clastic deposits from nearby hills or organic soil layers formed locally. Our investigation indicates that there are at least 3 events in the northern half of eastern Taiwan and at least 2 events in southern part of eastern Taiwan. Although these outcrops are next to the shoreline and Taiwan is susceptible from typhoons, these gravels could be farther away from the beach at the time of their deposition due to current high retreat rate of the sea cliff. Further investigations are needed to delineate possible sources of tsunamis that caused the deposits.

Iota and other Romanian authors. 72See the attack on Dimitru Popescu’s novel Pumnul si Palma (The Fist and the Palm) by Pimen Buyanov in Literaturnaya... ecological issues. As for the Evangelical Church, it has never been the symbol of nationalism and national resistance that the Catholic Church in Poland

The indoor exposure of 381 women (52-59 years old) to lead and cadmium was assessed by measuring the levels of the contaminants in sedimented house dust. The study was conducted in the areas surrounding the towns of Hettstedt, a region of mining and smelting of non-ferrous ores, of Bitterfeld, a centre of chemical production and coal mining, and of Zerbst, a primarily agricultural area. Factors that were significantly associated with lead and cadmium surface loading rates included the city area of residence, urban environment of dwelling, ventilation behaviour, type of heating, year of construction of building and crowding in the sampling room. In metal-contaminated areas, the transport of heavy metals into the home from external sources and their subsequent resuspension into the air due to normal household activities are significant factors in the exposure to heavy metals, whereas in unpolluted areas indoor sources play the major role.

Full Text Available The notion that urban living is composed of multiple, interacting aspects instead of only depending on the condition of buildings is widely known. However, once urban renewal is considered, talk automatically turns to large-scale rebuilding projects. To date, there has been little knowledge exchange about projects that take place on the local level, tackling the socio-cultural dimension of urban life. While not destroying, but transforming, what already exists into something socially valuable, such projects open up a set of opportunities for the urban community. This paper draws upon German case studies to propose a definition for such projects and to investigate their potential for urban regeneration.

The carbon (CO2-C) budgets of a managed forest (spruce), grassland and a cropland (crop rotation) have been determined and compared. The sites are part of the Tharandt cluster which features low intersite variability in climate due to the small distances between the sites. This allows the comparison of management effects on the carbon budget of different land use among other things. At the forest site, continuous CO2 flux measurements are available from 1997 to 2008, the common observation period of the grassland and cropland sites was 2005 to 2008. With regard to annual net ecosystem exchange NEE (based on eddy covariance flux measurements), the forest showed the highest net sink (-698 g C m-2 (1999) to -444 g C m-2 (2003)). In contrast the grassland and cropland sites were significantly lower sinks in terms of NEE (-177 g C m-2 (2004) to -62 g C m-2 (2005) and -115 g C m-2 (2005) to -32 g C m-2 (2007 and 2008), respectively). To quantify the net biome productivity (NBP) carbon exports due to thinning or harvest as well as carbon imports due to organic fertilisation are considered besides NEE. Carbon exports and imports change the carbon budget in terms of NBP. At the forest site only the 2002 NBP is a carbon source (+221 g C m-2) due to the thinning in April 2002 when around 43 m3 ha-1 solid wood was removed from the ecosystem. After the thinning the annual NEE is reduced by around 100 g C m-2 until 2007. The grassland NBP alternated between carbon source and sink (+25 g C m-2 (2008) to -28 g C m-2 (2006)) indicating the carbon balance was approximately neutral. Low NEE and NBP values at the grassland site were a consequence of carbon export due to several cuts per year. The NBP of the cropland ecosystem was mainly influenced by the crop type (winter or spring crop) and the application of organic fertiliser (manure) resulting in carbon budgets between +484 g C m-2 (2007) and -89 g C m-2 (2006). The different timing and length of the growing season of winter and spring crops result in different intra-annual patterns of NEE as well as lower annual net CO2 sinks for the spring crops. In addition to the calculation of annual carbon budgets, alternative accounting periods were utilised at the arable site and were described as "crop period" between the harvest of the preceding crop and the harvest of the crop associated with the crop period. For the full rotation covered by the crop site (around four years), the Tharandt cluster sites showed a NBP sink (spruce), neutral effect (grass) and a source (crop), respectively. Key words: Carbon budget, net ecosystem exchange, net biome productivity, land use, management effect

Enhancing health literacy is a keystone in health promotion. Yet, most studies on health literacy are limited to functional literacy levels. Furthermore, little evidence is available from children. Based on Nutbeam's outcome model for health promotion, this study aims (i) to elaborate a set of short scales to measure important health literacy…

Full Text Available Germany's socio-economic model, the "social market economy", was established in West Germany after World War II and extended to the unified Germany in 1990. During a prolonged recession after the adoption of the Euro in 1998, major reforms (Agenda 2010 were introduced which many consider as the key of Germany's recent success. The reforms had mixed results: employment increased but has consisted to a large extent of precarious low-wage jobs. Growth depended on export surpluses based on an internal real devaluation (low unit labour costs which make Germany vulnerable to global recessions as in 2009. Overall inequality increased substantially.

Continuous monitoring of chemicals in the environment is important to control their fate and to protect human health, flora, and fauna. Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) have been detected frequently in different environmental compartments during the last 15 years and have drawn much attention because of their environmental persistence, omnipresence, and bioaccumulation potential. Water is an important source of their transport. In the present study, distributions of PFAAs in river water, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent, and tap water from eastern part of Germany and western part of Kenya were investigated. Eleven perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) and five perfluorosulfonic acids (PFSAs) were analyzed using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Sum of mean concentrations of eight PFAAs detected in drinking tap water from Leipzig was 11.5 ng L(-1), dominated by perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, 6.2 ng L(-1)). Sums of mean riverine concentrations of PFAAs detected in Pleiße/White Elster, Saale, and Elbe (Germany) were 24.8, 54.3, and 26.8 ng L(-1), respectively. Annual flux of PFAAs from River Saale was estimated to be 164 ± 23 kg a(-1). The effluent of WWTP in Halle was found to contain four times higher levels of PFAAs than river water and was dominated by perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) with 32 times higher concentration than the riverine level. It advocates that WWTPs are the point source of contaminating water bodies with PFAAs, and short-chain PFAAs are substituting long-chain homologues. Sums of mean riverine concentrations of PFAAs in Sosiani (Kenya) in samples from sparsely populated and densely populated areas were 58.8 and 109.4 ng L(-1), respectively, indicating that population directly affected the emissions of PFAAs to surface waters. The discussion includes thorough review and comparison of recently published literature reporting occurrence of PFAAs in aqueous matrices. Graphical abstract Perfluoroalkyl acids in aqueous

Larvae, pupae and eggs of the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus were found in Freiburg, southern Germany, after submission of an adult mosquito specimen from that area to the 'Mückenatlas', a German instrument of passive mosquito surveillance. While previously collected Ae. albopictus in Germany were trapped on, or close to, service stations on motorways, suggesting introduction by vehicles from southern Europe, these new specimens were out of flight distance from the motorway on the one hand and indicate local reproduction on the other. The findings call for a thorough active and passive surveillance in exposed geographic regions such as the relatively warm German Upper Rhine Valley to prevent Ae. albopictus from establishing.

In the year 2012, the expansion of the wind energy in Germany has newly gained a rise: 1,008 wind power plants with a total performance of 2,439 megawatt. The average performance of new wind turbines increases further. The average rotor diameter amounts 88.5 metres, while the average hub height amounts 109.8 metres. Above all, the southern Federal States of the Federal Republic of Germany jeopardise on large hub heights: With a hub height of 133.9 metres, Bavaria is in the vanguard of all Federal States followed by Baden-Wuerttemberg with a hub height of 129.9 metres. The wind power plants in Schleswig-Holstein have the lowest average hub height of 81.7 metres. Meanwhile, the repowering occurs in Schleswig-Holstein and Niedersachsen because there are the oldest wind power plants.

Full Text Available Abstract Background A large and increasing part of the European population has a history of migration. Germany, for example, is home to about 15 million people with migrant background, which amounts to 19% of its population. Migrants may have differences in their lifestyle, health beliefs and risk factors compared to the autochthonous populations. Discussion As for example studies on children's participation in routine prevention activities have shown, these differences can have a relevant impact on the access of migrants to the health care system and are likely to lower their participation in prevention programs compared to the autochthonous population. To increase the uptake of prevention programs, barriers to access must be identified and approaches to reduce them must be developed. Summary Taking the example of Germany, a need exists for prevention programs that include (migrant sensitive and specifically address (migrant specific migrants. These should be of sufficient scale, evidence-based, sustainable and evaluated at regular intervals.

"The accelerating economic globalization has created a growing demand for highly skilled labourers. As a result, there has been an increase in highly skilled and high-status migrants to Germany, especially to the urban agglomerations with global city functions. This migration process is carried mostly by the internal labour and job movement of multinational companies. In the urban centres these groups of migrants follow specific patterns of spatial organization and segregation with regard to their place of residence. But they also have other distinctive difference to the migrants with a lower social status, such as higher social acceptance in their host country, the transitory character of their stay in Germany, and their intentions to return to their home countries." (EXCERPT)

In general, poverty measures are estimated by applying income information. However, only using income data for calculating relative poverty might lead to an incomplete view. For example, a household can be under a poverty threshold even if a household member owns real estate or equity. In this thesis, at risk of income poverty in Germany is estimated. In order to get a more complete picture of at risk of poverty, a multidimensional approach is applied. Not only at risk of income poverty, also...

Full Text Available The article presents an insight into the old age pensionsystem in Germany. The authors goal was to present both, past and present solutions employed by the Germans pension system, in search for ideas worth consideration in international comparisons. In the summary, the author highlights as a particular German approach, on the background of other countries, the fact of implementing in the German reality the special smart card system for pensioners.

In general, poverty measures are estimated by applying income information. However, only using income data for calculating relative poverty might lead to an incomplete view. For example, a household can be under a poverty threshold even if a household member owns real estate or equity. In this thesis, at risk of income poverty in Germany is estimated. In order to get a more complete picture of at risk of poverty, a multidimensional approach is applied. Not only at risk of income poverty, also...

The main concern of this study is to analyze the emergence of Turkish Slang amongst the young turkish immigrants and its importance. Rap music is where Turkish Slang is mostly used. Since the midst of the 80s, Rap Music has become a medium of expression for the young immigrants who live in Germany. The correlation between Turkish Slang and Rap Music will be discussed in that sense.Keywords: Turkish slang, Turkish migrants, Hip hop – culture, Rap music, Migrant workers

This paper investigates whether and to what extent immigrants in Germany are integrated into German society by utilizing a variety of qualitative information and subjective data collected in the 1999 wave of the German Socio- Economic Panel (GSOEP).To this end, leisure-time activities and attitudes of native Germans, ethnic Germans and foreign immigrants of different generations are compared. The empirical results suggest that conditional on observable characteristics the activities and attit...

Germany uses its low enthalpy hydrothermal resources predominantly for balneological applications, space and district heating, but also for power production. The German Federal government supports the development of geothermal energy in terms of project funding, market incentives and credit offers, as well as a feed-in tariff for geothermal electricity. Although new projects for district heating take on average six years, geothermal energy utilisation is growing rapidly, especially in souther...

Early retirement in Germany is very costly and amplifies the burden which the German public pension system has to carry due to population aging. This paper shows that the German pension system provides strong incentives to retire early. The paper provides relatively robust econometric evidence for the strength of incentive effects on old age labor supply, using several specifications of incentive variables. The econometric estimates are used to simulate the individual responses to policy chan...

"China and Germany are longterm trade partners, The volume of our bilateral trade has reached more than $54 Million in 2004, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder have agreed to double our bilateral trade volume by the year 2010." Dr. Volker Stanzel,German Ambassador gave an active appraise on the bilateral trade relations when interviewed by China's Foreign Trade.……

In November 2012, 23 cases of ciguatera with typical combinations of gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms occurred in Germany after consumption of imported tropical fish (Lutjanus spp.). A questionnaire was used to gather information on the disease course and fish consumption. All patients suffered from pathognomonic cold allodynia. Aside from two severe courses of illness, all other cases showed symptoms of moderate intensity. During a three-year follow-up, seven patients reported prolonged paresthesia for more than one year. Two of them reported further neuropathies over almost three years. This is the first time that long-term persistence of symptoms has been documented in detail. Outbreak cases were allocated to eight clusters in seven German cities. A further cluster was prevented by the successful recall of ciguatoxic fish. Three clusters were confirmed by the detection of ciguatoxin in samples of suspicious and recalled fish. An extrapolation on the basis of ciguatoxic samples revealed twenty prevented cases of ciguatera. Further officially unknown cases should be assumed. During the outbreak investigations, inadvertently falsely labelled fish species and fishing capture areas on import and retail level documents were observed. The ascertainment of cases and the outbreak investigations proved to be difficult due to inconsistent case reports to poisons centers, local health and veterinary authorities. In Germany, many physicians are unaware of the disease pattern of ciguatera and the risks caused by tropical fish. The occurrence of further outbreaks during the following years emphasizes the increasing significance of ciguatera in Germany.

Full Text Available Germany uses its low enthalpy hydrothermal resources predominantly for balneological applications, space and district heating, but also for power production. The German Federal government supports the development of geothermal energy in terms of project funding, market incentives and credit offers, as well as a feed-in tariff for geothermal electricity. Although new projects for district heating take on average six years, geothermal energy utilisation is growing rapidly, especially in southern Germany. From 2003 to 2013, the annual production of geothermal district heating stations increased from 60 GWh to 530 GWh. In the same time, the annual power production increased from 0 GWh to 36 GWh. Currently, almost 200 geothermal facilities are in operation or under construction in Germany. A feasibility study including detailed geological site assessment is still essential when planning a new geothermal facility. As part of this assessment, a lot of geological data, hydraulic data, and subsurface temperatures can be retrieved from the geothermal information system GeotIS, which can be accessed online [1].

Full Text Available A rather significant proportion of the Societas Europaeas (the European Company, or SE formed to date have had German roots. German corporate law has been enriched by an interesting alternative which meanwhile seems to have gained momentum. This contribution focuses on SEs incorporated by German entrepreneurs and provides an interesting account concerning the use of SEs in Germany in practice, such as Allianz, Fresenius, BASF and Porsche. Has the SE been used to circumvent rigid company law provisions or is it a more flexible and effective tool, perhaps, for company mobility? The practical motives behind setting up this company form are also reflected upon. These include: the facilitation of cross-border mergers; transfer of the registered office; the ‘European’ image; a more flexible form of co-determination in large companies (reduction of the number of supervisory board members; avoidance and freezing of co-determination for medium-sized enterprises; the appeal of the one-tier system and its endangerment by German co-determination; and flat and uniform structures for company groups. The author also briefly discusses some of the problems arising from the formation of SEs in Germany. He ultimately concludes that practice has shown that it is possible to work with the legal regime of the SE in Germany, which adds a new company form to those available in that Member State.

Full Text Available The process of socio-economic transformation of East German lands after the German reunification in 1990 is analyzed, the term "transformation" in frames of planned and market economies is defined. The author studies the historical determinants of the transformation process in Germany. German economic and industrial history in context of the driving forces and their social values, as well as the properties of the planning and economic systems that underlie the transformation of East German mentality, are considered. Further analysis is connected with economic, social and political components of the East German transformation process, "the dominance of the West", the collapse of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, privatization etc. Finally, the outcome of already traversed path of transformation of East Germany is considered. It is concluded, that the transformation process is not only historically conditioned situations of both the merging parties in the case of Germany, but also the positive or negative perception of its results and the motivation for its further implementation.

Small mammals serve as most important reservoirs for Leptospira spp., the causative agents of Leptospirosis, which is one of the most neglected and widespread zoonotic diseases worldwide. The knowledge about Leptospira spp. occurring in small mammals from Germany is scarce. Thus, this study's objectives were to investigate the occurrence of Leptospira spp. and the inherent sequence types in small mammals from three different study sites: a forest in southern Germany (site B1); a National Park in south-easternGermany (site B2) and a renaturalised area, in easternGermany (site S) where small mammals were captured. DNA was extracted from kidneys of small mammals and tested for Leptospira spp. by real-time PCR. Positive samples were further analysed by duplex and conventional PCRs. For 14 positive samples, multi locus sequence typing (MLST) was performed. Altogether, 1213 small mammals were captured: 216 at site B1, 456 at site B2 and 541 at site S belonging to following species: Sorex (S.) araneus, S. coronatus, Apodemus (A.) flavicollis, Myodes glareolus, Microtus (Mi.) arvalis, Crocidura russula, Arvicola terrestris, A. agrarius, Mustela nivalis, Talpa europaea, and Mi. agrestis. DNA of Leptospira spp. was detected in 6% of all small mammals. At site B1, 25 small mammals (11.6%), at site B2, 15 small mammals (3.3%) and at site S, 33 small mammals (6.1%) were positive for Leptospira spp. Overall, 54 of the positive samples were further determined as L. kirschneri, nine as L. interrogans and four as L. borgpetersenii while five real-time PCR-positive samples could not be further determined by conventional PCR. MLST results revealed focal occurrence of L. interrogans and L. kirschneri sequence type (ST) 117 while L. kirschneri ST 110 was present in small mammals at all three sites. Further, this study provides evidence for a particular host association of L. borgpetersenii to mice of the genus Apodemus.

With the termination of the so-called `Century Contract` in 1995, the steam coal market in German is liberalised with competition from imported coal being the driving force. German coal is still subsidised, according to the Artikelgesetz. The deregulation of the electricity market may lead to a more fierce competition in fuels for power generation. A recent survey by the Progress Research Institute showed however that the total use of coal in Germany will remain fairly constant until 2020. The article discusses the strategy adopted particularly by the RAG group which holds 80% of all German hard coal mining activities, to increase market attractivity of German coal now and in the future. There is a move afoot to integrate RAG with Saarbergwerke, Germany`s second largest hard coal producer. RAG already has developed many non-mining divisions - energy (STEAG), Chemicals (Ruetgers), trade and services (Ruhrkohle Handel) environment, and real estate and mining technology (DBT). 6 figs.

Full Text Available Abstract Background Yersiniosis is the third most common zoonotic bacterial disease in Germany and the European Union. Sequelae of Yersinia enterocolitica infections, such as reactive arthritis, have been reported. Consumption of pork and its products, especially eaten raw or undercooked, is an important risk factor of yersiniosis. Infection with Y. enterocolitica is notifiable through the national surveillance system for infectious diseases in Germany and several thousands of cases are being reported each year. We present recent data on the epidemiology of reported yersiniosis in Germany. Methods Surveillance data on yersiniosis, accessed through the national level database (SurvNet, were analyzed with regard to time trends, demographical and geographical distribution, serotypes, and hospitalization, for the time period 2001-2008. Results A total of 47,627 cases of yersiniosis were reported. The mean annual incidence of yersiniosis was 7.2/100,000 population. A downward trend in the number of reportable cases has occurred since 2002. Almost all Y. enterocolitica infections were reported as single cases, i.e., with no apparent links to other cases. The number of reported infections showed substantially less seasonal variation than in other zoonotic enteric diseases. The incidence was highest in children under five years (58/100,000 population, in particular in one-year-old children (108/100,000 population. Almost 97% of infections were acquired domestically. High incidences occurred in the eastern German federal states Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt. Differences in incidences across federal states were driven primarily by incidence differences in children under five years. Hospitalization was reported for 17% of cases, the proportion being highest among teenagers. Almost 90% of Y. enterocolitica strains were diagnosed as serotype O:3, which is the serotype most frequently isolated from pigs. Conclusions Yersiniosis is a zoonotic foodborne

Persons who stutter (PWS) should be referred to the most effective treatments available, locally or regionally. A prospective comparison of the effects of the most common stuttering treatments in Germany is not available. Therefore, a retrospective evaluation by clients of stuttering treatments was carried out. The five most common German stuttering treatments (231 single treatment cases) were rated as to their perceived effectiveness, using a structured questionnaire, by 88 PWS recruited through various sources. The participants had received between 1 and 7 treatments for stuttering. Two stuttering treatments (stuttering modification, fluency shaping) showed favorable and three treatments (breathing therapy, hypnosis, unspecified logopedic treatment) showed unsatisfactory effectiveness ratings. The effectiveness ratings of stuttering modification and fluency shaping did not differ significantly. The three other treatments were equally ineffective. The differences between the effective and ineffective treatments were of large effect sizes. The typical therapy biography begins in childhood with an unspecified logopedic treatment administered extensively in single and individual sessions. Available comparisons showed intensive or interval treatments to be superior to extensive treatments, and group treatments to be superior to single client treatments. The stuttering treatment most often prescribed in Germany, namely a weekly session of individual treatment by a speech-language pathologist, usually with an assorted package of mostly unknown components, is of limited effectiveness. Better effectiveness can be expected from fluency shaping or stuttering modification approaches, preferably with an intensive time schedule and with group sessions. Readers will be able to: (a) discuss the five most prevalent stuttering treatments in Germany; (b) summarize the effectiveness of these treatments; and (c) describe structural treatment components that seem to be preferable

Full Text Available This essay focuses on the questions of whether German unification resulted in a wholesale retreat of intellectuals from politics and engagement with social issues, as the rhetoric of failure would indicate, or whether the key debates of the period can be read instead as a sign that Germany is on the road to becoming a more 'normal' European nation. Before returning to these issuesat the end of this paper I first provide a broad historical and theoretical context for my discussion of the role of the concerned intellectual in Germany, before offering an overview of the respective functions of literary intellectuals in both German states in the post-war period. I then address a series of key debates and discussions in 1989 and the early nineteen-nineties that were responsible for changing the forms of engagement in intellectual debates in post-unification German society. I argue that the 1990s and early years of the new millennium hastened the disappearance of the writer as a universal intellectual and focused attention on the writer as an individualist and a professional. Today's youngest generation of writer in Germany is a specialist intellectual who intervenes in political and social matters from time to time but who is not expected to take a moral-ethical stance on most issues of national and international concern. S/he is one who frequently writes about personal subjects, but may also occasionally, as witnessed after September 11, turn his or her pen to topics of global concern as in terrorism and Islam. More often than not, however, writers now leave the work of commenting on political affairs to writers of the older guard and to other 'senior' specialist intellectuals.

Full Text Available This essay focuses on the questions of whether German unification resulted in a wholesale retreat of intellectuals from politics and engagement with social issues, as the rhetoric of failure would indicate, or whether the key debates of the period can be read instead as a sign that Germany is on the road to becoming a more 'normal' European nation. Before returning to these issuesat the end of this paper I first provide a broad historical and theoretical context for my discussion of the role of the concerned intellectual in Germany, before offering an overview of the respective functions of literary intellectuals in both German states in the post-war period. I then address a series of key debates and discussions in 1989 and the early nineteen-nineties that were responsible for changing the forms of engagement in intellectual debates in post-unification German society. I argue that the 1990s and early years of the new millennium hastened the disappearance of the writer as a universal intellectual and focused attention on the writer as an individualist and a professional. Today's youngest generation of writer in Germany is a specialist intellectual who intervenes in political and social matters from time to time but who is not expected to take a moral-ethical stance on most issues of national and international concern. S/he is one who frequently writes about personal subjects, but may also occasionally, as witnessed after September 11, turn his or her pen to topics of global concern as in terrorism and Islam. More often than not, however, writers now leave the work of commenting on political affairs to writers of the older guard and to other 'senior' specialist intellectuals.

Full Text Available Enlargement has become a fundamental priority of the European Union after the 90’s. Up to now seven rounds have been held for enlarging the Community which initially was made up of six Member States (Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands. Among all EU enlargements, the eastward enlargement from 2004 was the biggest challenge, both due to the number of new Member States which joined - the number of EU inhabitants increasing to approximately from 380 to 485 million, but also due to the difference of Gross Domestic Product between the old and new EU members. This paper aims to provide insights in European integration and absorption of European funds into the newest that joined the European Union. The paper proposes an analysis of integration and specialization in Eastern Europe by means of data and statistics provided by European and national statistics institutions.

Executive summary 1. This report is about an investigation of food-related lifestyle in Germany, based on a representative sample of 1000 households. 2. The German consumers are described by five segments, which differ in how and to which extent they use food and cooking to attain their central...... aspects of food, with the possible exception of price and the social aspect. Their food-related lifestyle is characterized by the fact that they hardly food to achieve basic values at all. Whatever it is these consumers want to achieve in their lives, they achieve it through other channels than food. 4...

In this study the fate of pharmaceuticals and personal care products which are irrigated on arable land with treated municipal waste-water was investigated. In Braunschweig, Germany, wastewater has been irrigated continuously for more than 45 years. In the winter time only the effluent...... of digested sludge, because many polar compounds do not sorb to sludge and lipophilic compounds are not mobile in the soil-aquifer. Most of the selected PPCPs were never detected in any of the lysimeter or groundwater samples, although they were present in the treated wastewater irrigated onto the fields...

The author discusses migration into Germany, primarily since World War II, with a focus on the impact on the German labor market. The radical changes that came about in the late 1980s as a result of granting political asylum to third-world refugees and of the readmittance of persons of German descent who wanted to repatriate are then assessed. Following reunification, the author foresees new trends in migration into the country and predicts some of their effects. (SUMMARY IN ENG AND GER)

During three flights over central western Germany, air samples were taken for determination of organic acids. In air masses rapidly adverting from the west, between 0.15 and 3 km altitude mixing ratios of 0.17±0.06 ppbv formic acid and 0.72±0.08 ppbv acetic acid were found. In a local high pressure system mixing ratios increased up to 2.76 ppbv for formic acid and 2.20 ppbv for acetic acid.

life values. We call them the uninvolved, the careless, the conservative, the rational and the adventurous food consumers. The segments have only little relation to demographic variables. 3. The uninvolved food consumers stand for 21% of the population. These consumers are quite uninterested in most......Executive summary 1. This report is about an investigation of food-related lifestyle in Germany, based on a representative sample of 1000 households. 2. The German consumers are described by five segments, which differ in how and to which extent they use food and cooking to attain their central...

Full Text Available Germany has a negative balance for tourism. The article deals with attempts for creating the Germany’s positive image for tourists. Germans themselves travel a lot domestically, and for the first time since 2011 Germany has enjoyed a positive balance in tourism industry – tourists spent 20,4 bl. Euros inside against 15,5 bl. Euros spent outside of the country. According to YUNVTO Germany entered the list of top 10 tourist destinations.

The aim of the secondary analysis is the exploration of the prevalence and determinants of workplace health promotion among elderly employees. The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) establishment panel is an annual representative survey of employers. In 2011 a total of 13,378 establishments with at least 1 elderly employee (50 + years) participated in personal interviews. In 2011, 4 % of the establishments in Eastern and Western Germany included measures for workplace health promotion among employees aged 50 years and older, which were often associated with personnel measures among the elderly. The prevalence of workplace health promotion varies considerably among the sectors of industry and the Federal States and substantially increases with the size of the establishment. Establishments with a works council are disproportionally highly committed to workplace health promotion among the elderly employees. There is a large development potential for a better integration of workplace health promotion among elderly employees in personnel and enterprise strategies.

The following folio of terrain intelligence maps, charts and explanatory tables represent an attempt to bring together available data on natural physical conditions such as will affect military operations in Eastern Siberia. The area covered is the easternmost section of the U.S.S.R.; that is the area east of the Yenisei River. Each map and accompanying table is devoted· to a specialized set of problems; together they cover such subjects as geology, construction materials, mineral fuels, terrain, water supply, rivers and climate. The data is somewhat generalized due to the scale of treatment as well as to the scarcity of basic data. Each of the maps are rated as to reliability according to the reliability scale on the following page. Considerable of the data shown is of an interpretative nature, although precise data from literature was used wherever possible. The maps and tables were compiled by a special group from the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the Intelligence Branch of the Office, Chief of Engineers, War Department.

Perhaps like no other country, Germany has radically changed its policies towards regulating air pollution in the European context. Acting originally as a dragger in the 1970s to regulate transboundary air pollutants due to pessimism about the relationship between causes and effects, Germany responded very decisively to its own damage assessment in the early 1980s. In particular the adverse effects to forests (`Waldsterben` or forest decline) led to the formulation of strict air pollution regulations in the domestic context, efforts to spread the regulatory system within the European Union, and activities within the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to foster stronger, continent-wide emission reductions. Using three conceptual models (rational actor, domestic politics, and social learning), we show that Germany deviated strongly from the ideal policy cycle consisting of (i) domestic policy formulation, (ii) international negotiations, as well as (iii) implementation and compliance with the provisions of international environmental agreements. Both national policy-making as well as partial implementation have been well on the way towards compliance even before Germany entered international negotiations on substantive protocols. Therefore, one may conclude from this country study that push countries may use the results of their national policy processes to influence the policy of other countries. (orig.)

...: the USA, Germany, and Russia using both a comparative theoretical analysis of different performance criteria of business incubators and interviewing experts who work directly with startup companies...

The safe natural gas supply of Germany is guaranteed by imports, domestic delivery and underground natural gas storage facilities. More than 80 % of the consumed natural gas is imported. Due to new natural gas storage facilities as well as due to the extension of existing natural gas storage facilities, the storage of natural gas in Germany experiences an upward trend for years. The contribution under consideration reports on the status of the underground natural gas storage of crude oil products and petroleum products in Germany on the basis of the data of the Lower Saxony State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology (Hannover, Federal Republic of Germany).

Full Text Available The Real Estate Appraisal in Germany is regulated by the articles 192-199 of the German Construction Law. Technical guidelines, including the appraisal methods, are defined in bylaws. For the purpose of official real estate appraisal, Expert Appraisal Committees were founded in counties and large cities. The Committees are comprised of real estate experts doing a honorary service, coming from such professions as land surveying engineers, architects, civil engineers, Tax Office employees, experts from the banking sector, agronomists and real estate agents. The chairman of the Committee is also the director of the Cadastral Office and/or the Surveying Office. Every Committee has its own office within the Cadastral Office or the Surveying Office. The main task of the Committees is to establish and guarantee the transparency of the real estate market, by means of the publication of approximate plot value maps on the Internet as well as the publication of the reports on the real estate market. Apart from that, the Expert Appraisal Committees provide reports on the market value of real estate objects, available upon request. Reports on the market value of real estate objects are also made by publicly appointed and sworn experts. Based on the steady rise in the requests for superregional information about the real estate market in the recent years, the working group comprised of the representatives from the Expert Appraisal Committees from the whole country published its first report on the real estate market in Germany in 2008, and the second one in 2011.

Multi-family therapy, common group therapy with several families per one index patient, has been gaining popularity recently. This has occasioned an exploratory study of the status of implementation and common factors in all multi-family therapy programs in Germany. In a survey conducted across Germany, all providers of multi-family therapy interventions were requested to give a detailed description of their intervention. Quantitative data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, and verbal data were summarized categorically with qualitative content analysis. Of the 25 intervention programs examined 21 are directed at emotionally disturbed children and young people and their families; mainly with disturbances in social behavior. Over 4,000 families per year are treated in multi-family therapy, and five programs were systematically evaluated. MFT is characterized by systematically oriented group therapy methods. Those surveyed traced the effect of this form of intervention back to activating problems in the group, activating resources, changing perspective, learning models, experiencing self-efficacy, and the therapeutic relationship. Systematic studies of multi-family therapy in evaluations and in random controlled study designs are recommended.

Homoeopathy originated in Germany. The same applies, by the way, to many other branches of alternative medicine, e.g. mesmerism, homoeopathy, hydropathy, anthroposophical medicine. This historical fact provides more than just an excuse to start with a survey of the historiography of homeopathy in German-speaking countries. The first part of the paper focuses on 19th-century attempts at a history of homoeopathy, reflecting the wish to establish a corporate identity among the adherents of the new art of healing. Early examples are books by prominent homoeopathic doctors on the origins and recent history of homoeopathy in German lands. A look at their motives will give us a notion of the response of the fringe medicine to a wide ranger of attacks of orthodox physicians and medical historians who saw progress in the field of the new "scientific" medicine only and who shared the values and ideologies of the medical establishment. The second part of the paper - which covers the period from the turn of the century to the end of World War II - examines the first attempts by professional medical historians as well as amateurs to write about the rise and fall of homeopathy in Germany. The third part is then centred on recent medical historiography on this subject.

By the end of 1995 in total 3655 wind turbines (WT`s) were installed in Germany with a total capacity of 1,136 MW. In the year 1995 alone the WT installations grew by 1,070 units with 505 MW. About 40% of the 1995 installations were sold to inland states of Germany with their lower wind speed potential. This fast development occurred in parallel to continuously reduced local state and federal subsidies. The further development is based mainly on the guaranteed reimbursement due to the Electricity Feed Law. But since some time the electricity utilities fight back on all legal and political levels to get cancelled the unloved Electricity Feed Law and since two years the building construction law with the foreseen privilege for WT`s is discussed without any result. All these difficulties affect investors and credit giving banks in such a negative way, that the further annual increase in wind power installation for 1996 could be 10 to 20% less than in 1995. Many of the new commercial Megawatt WT`s have pitch control and variable rotor speed which cause better electrical power quality and lower life time loads. From statistical evaluations on technical data of WT`s a good overview of the further development is derived. 8 refs., 10 figs.

Data on mental health care use of children and adolescents in Germany is scarce. This study investigates the degree of mental health care use, its trajectories and influencing factors among children and adolescents in Germany, using longitudinal data of the BELLA study. The BELLA study is the mental health module of the representative German National Health Interview and Examination Survey for children and adolescents (KiGGS). Baseline data of N = 2,863 participants aged 7-17 years were collected between 2003 and 2006. The study sample was followed up in three additional measurement points, assessing general mental health problems and impairment, specific mental health problems, and mental health care use. In the current study, we analysed data from the first three measurement points. At baseline, 5.9 % of all participants used mental health care in the past 12 months. Among those with general mental health problems, 29.5 % sought professional help. Only a minority of participants reporting mental health care use at baseline also sought help at the following two measurement points. Analysing a random intercept only model, mental health care use was found to be more likely among participants living in larger communities as well as in the Eastern part of Germany, among those participants with impairment of mental health problems, and signs of externalizing problems. Our results indicate a temporary character of mental health care use. Participants' impairment was identified to be the strongest predictor of mental health care use.

Full Text Available Abstract Background After a long and controversial debate methadone maintenance treatment (MMT was first introduced in Germany in 1987. The number of patients in MMT – first low because of strict admission criteria – increased considerably since the 1990s up to some 65,000 at the end of 2006. In Germany each general practitioner (GP, who has completed an additional training in addiction medicine, is allowed to prescribe substitution drugs to opioid dependent patients. Currently 2,700 GPs prescribe substitution drugs. Psychosocial care should be made available to all MMT patients. Results The results of research studies and practical experiences clearly indicate that patients benefit substantially from MMT with improvements in physical and psychological health. MMT proves successful in attaining high retention rates (65 % to 85 % in the first years, up to 50 % after more than seven years and plays a major role in accessing and maintaining ongoing medical treatment for HIV and hepatitis. MMT is also seen as a vital factor in the process of social re-integration and it contributes to the reduction of drug related harms such as mortality and morbidity and to the prevention of infectious diseases. Some 10 % of MMT patients become drug-free in the long run. Methadone is the most commonly prescribed substitution medication in Germany, although buprenorphine is attaining rising importance. Access to MMT in rural areas is very patchy and still constitutes a problem. There are only few employment opportunities for patients participating in MMT, although regular employment is considered unanimously as a positive factor of treatment success. Substitution treatment in German prisons is heterogeneous in access and treatment modalities. Access is very patchy and the number of inmates in treatment is limited. Nevertheless, substitution treatment plays a substantial part in the health care system provided to drug users in Germany. Conclusion In Germany, a

The most important change in the German data situation compared to the last national report in October 1995 was the adjustment of the national statistical system to the unified Germany including easternGermany (in the following referred to as Germany). Therefore, the existing time series for western Germany (in the following referred to as ex-FRG) had not only to be updated, but German data had to be included in the ODYSSEE database, too. It is intended to improve in the future the quality of the data further and to extend the data through reasonable estimates as far as justified (improvement of the data for the ex-FRG up to 1994, completion and verification of the data for Germany in 1990/1991). It is clear that the re-unification (in combination with the change in 1995 of the national industrial energy consumption statistics to a classification which is compatible with the European NACE Rev. 1 classification) poses considerable difficulties for the Energy Efficiency Indicators (EEI) approach, in which longer time series improve the reliability of the results. The German reunification shows therefore the limitations of the approach which encounters difficulties in periods of rapid changes. It is, however, not a principle argument against the methodology. The difficulty stems rather from the fact that in periods of radical changes, statistical systems simply may break down for some time, and cannot be reconstructed afterwards. Fortunately, the German re-unification is exceptional within the European Union. However, in the case of the inclusion of Eastern European accession countries (PHARE countries) in the EEI approach, the same type of difficulties will occur, though to a lesser degree, because the changes were less radical, and because there was not a complete break in statistics. (orig.)

Full Text Available In international macroeconomics, there is a specific concept explaining deviations in international trade relations showing that countries have a bias and a strong preference for the consumption of their home-country goods. This article presents an application of the concept on brand preferences in West and East Germany, where a home-bias-inconsumption has been observed for the East of Germany. It is the first application of the concept on the territory of brand preference that explains the strong rootedness of the Eastern German consumers to their regionally known and familiar brands. The goal of the article is to elaborate more deeply the differences in attitudes towards brands between Eastern and Western German consumers. The main research method is secondary analysis of the data collected in two large research studies: (1 “West-East brand study”, and (2 “Consumer Analysis”. The results of the presented study have interesting managerial implications in brand management, showing that brands should utilize their local rootedness.

The sociocultural problems of Turkish children living in Germany are explored. Turkish immigrant children in Germany must be socialized in two societies, the traditional Turkish culture of their parents and that of German society. Religion and the Islamic-value system are often at odds with German values. (SLD)

Discusses recent developments in the family in West Germany. Examines family demographics; provides an overview of the main institutional forces, laws, and family policy; and refers to the organizational aspects of demography. Describes trend in Germany of shrinking household size and increasing share of one-person households. Describes statistics…

Revolution did not spread to Germany from France at the end of the 18th century, yet the German and other European states were forced to come to terms with the principles of the French Revolution such as political and legal freedoms and national unity. Germany was affected by the French Revolution particularly by the reactions of German…

This study compared bullying involvement of Korean or Korean-German children living in Germany with children in Korea, and examined children's perceptions of school environment associated with bullying involvement of the children. This study included 105 Korean or Korean-German children living in the Bayern State of Germany as the study sample and…

For the layperson no crime is more difficult to comprehend than the killing of a child by his or her own parents. This is a retrospective study of neonaticide and infanticide in Eastern Croatia from 1980 to 2004. Judicial records of infanticide cases stored in Regional and County Courts were analyzed for the circumstances surrounding the offense. Twenty-four babies were discovered in various places during investigating period of time. The victims were almost equally divided between boys (12) and girls (11). The gender of one baby was unknown. The mean weight of babies was 2.7 SD = 0.66 kg. The perpetrators preferred rubbish-heaps (33.4%), burying in soil (16.7%), various premises in or around the house (16.7%) and garbage cans (12.5%) as places for hiding the dead babies. The most dominant cause of death in sixteen cases of live birth was asphyxia (37%) with equal distribution of smothering, stuffing the mouth with rags and strangulation. Other frequent causes of death were placing the child in a plastic bag and abandonment (25%), brain injury (25%) and wounding using a sharp weapon (12.5%). The cause of death for six babies remained unknown due to advanced decomposition. Two babies were stillborn. The age of accused mothers varied from 16 to 33, mean 24 SD=5.2 years. Most of them were unmarried (60%) and had limited formal education. They usually kept the pregnancy a secret (73%) and gave birth (93%) without public welfare assistance. The mother lived in the terror of shame and with the guilt that accompany conception without marriage. Fear seemed to be a pronounced motivating factor for committing infanticide. The data on court proceedings were available in fifteen cases. The mothers were officially indicted in all cases for infanticide under the Croatian Criminal Code. The perpetrator remained unidentified in nine suspicious crimes. The court convicted ten mothers of the crime of infanticide. Often juries were unwilling to punish the mother, citing the mother

Full Text Available These last few years, French international road freight transport has been undergoing a loss of influence within Europe while traffic has increased and great manoeuvres are taking place since the opening of the European Union towards East. Some of the French transporters are then focusing back on the French market showing a worrying loss in competitiveness. On the contrary, German and Dutch companies are increasing their shares in the French market and have reorganized themselves within Europe to face Eastern Europe competition: follow-up on customers delocalizing in the East, networking, hyperproductivity, markets segmentation between high quality transport in the West, specific markets and low cost segment in EasternGermany and East Europe (Poland, Romania, ..., intensive geographical closeness to a great harbour (Rotterdam... What should France learn from German and Dutch experiences? On the basis of a comparison of our neighbours' driving costs and road freight transport structure, our contribution - a synthesis of two recent studies ordered by the Comite National Routier (CNR, studies free to be downloaded by www.cnr.fr - will first propose a cooperation with German or Dutch companies in order to propose a winner-winner model based on exchange of competencies: North Africa (Morocco for instance and Southern Europe for French partners (specialization Storage - Logistics and transport business model and opening towards the East for the German and Dutch partners.

Full Text Available The reconstruction of the size and geographical distribution of properties that made up the dowers of the first three Ottonian queens makes possible to see the great importance of these assets, both for their large extension, both for the relevant strategic role dues to their location. Already Henry I, the first king of the dynasty, endowed his wife Matilda with numerous curtes that belonged to the area of oldest and strong presence of the Ottonian family, namely the eastern Saxony and Thuringia. Precisely, the control of these important goods was the cause of the fight between Matilda and her son Otto I when, in 938, the mother supported the claims to the throne of her younger son Henry during a revolt against Otto. The dower of Edgith, the first wife of Otto, was made from the large curtis of Magdeburg, which became a place of great symbolic and political importance thanks to the burial of the royal couple and for its elevation to Archdiocese which was entrusted with the supervision of slavic territories east of the Elbe. The set of the assets granted in Germany by Otto to Adelaide, his second wife, it's difficult to reconstruct in detail, but it was definitely of great extent in continuity with the dower of Matilda, although compared to this the curtes were spread across a wider area encompassing both the eastern Saxony and Thuringia, both Alsace and Franconia.

We survey the job situation of women in astronomy in Germany and of German women abroad and review indicators for their career development. Our sample includes women astronomers from all academic levels from doctoral students to professors, as well as female astronomers who have left the field. We find that networking and human support are among the most important factors for success. Experience shows that students should carefully choose their supervisor and collect practical knowledge abroad. We reflect the private situation of female German astronomers and find that prejudices are abundant, and are perceived as discriminating.We identify reasons why women are more likely than men to quit astronomy after they obtain their PhD degree. We give recommendations to young students on what to pay attention to in order to be on the successful path in astronomy.

The prevalence of nonpaternity in human societies is difficult to establish. To obtain a current and fairly unbiased estimate of the nonpaternity rate in Germany, we analysed a dataset consisting of 971 children and their parents in whom human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing had been carried out in the context of bone marrow transplantation. In this sample, nine exclusions (0.93%) could be identified on the basis of more than 300 HLA-haplotypes defined by four HLA genes. Given this number of exclusions, a maximum likelihood estimate of the nonpaternity rate in the population of 0.94% was obtained with asymptotic 95% confidence limits of 0.33% and 1.55%, respectively. This result is in accordance with recent surveys as well as findings from Switzerland for a comparable sample, and it suggests that earlier estimates of the nonpaternity rate which were often in excess of 10% may have been largely exaggerated.

Full Text Available This article reflects on traditional and contemporary gardening movements in Germany. The focus is on forms of gardening, that take place in spaces subject to land lease agreements and similar forms of tenancy or of illegal land take or squatting. The author examines various definitions taking into account the variety of practices, the development of urban gardening over time, and the respective backgrounds or values that users relate to such gardening activities. The examination of definitions led to the drawing up of a timeline of traditional and contemporary gardening movements in Germany and to the tentative approaching of this issue from a semantic perspective. The latter is due to the usage of many different terms mostly as yet undefined in a legal sense. Translation into English or, most likely, to any other language, further blurs the common understanding of the terms used. The author concludes with some considerations on these gardening movements in relation to urban sustainable developments. A presentation at the 5th Rencontres Internationals de Reims on Sustainability Studies, dedicated to Urban Agriculture – Fostering the Urban-Rural Continuum, which took place in October 2015 in Reims/France was the starting point of this article. The basis of this article is a literature review, nourished to a certain extent by observations randomly made over many years and complemented through talks with competent young colleagues. Special thanks go to Martin Sondermann, Leibniz University Hannover, who shared his research experience in various discussions with the author, as well as to Friederike Stelter, internship student at the author’s place of work, who gave highly appreciated support to the preparation of the presentation.

Child Soldiers as Refugees in Germany How do former child soldiers cope with their potentially traumatic experiences, and how do the living conditions as refugees influence these coping processes? A dissertation at the faculty of human and social sciences at the University of Wuppertal, based on biographical-narrative interviews with 15 young refugees from six African countries, describes the characteristics of the traumatic sequences in the countries of origin and in exile, and elaborates typical coping processes. In order to survive a situation of absolute subjection within armed groups, children develop forms of adequate adaptation to the context like regulation and detachment of emotions e.g. with the use of drugs, assimilation to an idea of "hard masculinity" etc. They become victims, witnesses and often perpetrators of extreme violence (man-made-disaster), respectively traumatic processes can be seen in all sequences. After leaving the armed groups there is no way back into the families and communities destroyed by armed conflict, so they become refugees. In Germany, they are subjected to a bureaucratic and excluding asylum system, in which decisions on all relevant areas of life (age determination, place and right of residence, form of accommodation, access to education, etc.) are imposed on them. Especially the insecure right of residence and the living conditions in refugee camps are severe risk factors, impeding stabilization. Social support, e. g. by competent professionals, access to trauma- and culture-sensitive psychotherapy, societal inclusion, but also personal resilience are essential for coping with trauma and developing new future perspectives.

Abstract: In the post-communist era, the contemporary national Eastern Orthodox churches have often been accused of taking either direct or ideological part in violence across Eastern Europe. In several scholarly analyses, the churches have been linked with ethnic and national violence. They have...... thus been identified as an ideological root for a distinctive ethno-religious nationalism either blocking the way for a pluralistic society or simply defying it. These cases of violence and conflicts, as well as their subsequent analysis, only point to a practical and visible manifestation of conflicts......, and they therefore don’t answer a broader theological question, namely the question of the general position of the Eastern Orthodox churches regarding violence. This article will address this broader question of what the Orthodox churches’ position is on violence and discuss the co-relation and intersection between...

To describe regional differences between eastern and western Germany with regard to food, nutrient and supplement intake in 9-12-year-old children, and analyse its association with parental education and equivalent income. Data were obtained from the 10-year follow-up of the two prospective birth cohort studies - GINIplus and LISAplus. Data on food consumption and supplement intake were collected using an FFQ, which had been designed for the specific study population. Information on parental educational level and equivalent income was derived from questionnaires. Logistic regression modelling was used to analyse the effect of parental education, equivalent income and region on food intake, after adjusting for potential confounders. Germany. A total of 3435 children aged 9-12 years. Substantial regional differences in food intake were observed between eastern and western Germany. Intakes of bread, butter, eggs, pasta, vegetables/salad and fruit showed a significant direct relationship with the level of parental education after adjusting for potential confounders, whereas intakes of margarine, meat products, pizza, desserts and soft drinks were inversely associated with parental education. Equivalent income had a weaker influence on the child's food intake. Nutritional education programmes for school-age children should therefore account for regional differences and parental education.

Full Text Available Purpose and Originality: The aim of the work is to provide an overview of regional development in Eastern Slovakia, where are Košice and Prešov Region. The originality of the work lies in the work of enriching the SWOT analysis from the author Eve Rajčáková, which is given in the book deals with the issue of Regional development and regional policy of the European Union and Slovakia. Research question: The conditions of life of people in eastern Slovakia. Method: For writing this contribution will be used method of analysis and statistics. Knowledge on this subject have been looking on the internet and in books and sources of information publicly available. Using the data collected, we dealt with the issue of regional development in the Košice and Prešov regions. Results: The topic was the beginning focused on the overall characteristics of eastern Slovakia. Furthermore, we are at work we dealt with social and economic phenomena in both regions of eastern Slovakia. We focused on GDP, unemployment and tourism, which is in the region is widespread. Society: It is well known that there are obviously different living conditions in eastern Slovakia as in other parts of Slovakia. People are forced to, mainly because of employment, leave their region to move or commute to work to the west. The paper point out the right of this negative phenomenon that is quite visible - high unemployment. Limitations: The limits of work are limited by problems of regional development in eastern Slovakia, mainly focusing on economic and social phenomena in the society.

The “transcultural turn” of memory studies focuses on the fluid and dynamic aspects of cultural memory. This paper is concerned with the traveling of memories along the paths of migration. As migrants carry along “collective images and narratives of the past” (Erll 2011), migration is one...... of the major processes that circulate memories across cultural and national borderlines. This paper will investigate the circulation of memories in Eastern Europe migrant-literature that since 2000 has become an increasingly influential literary tendency in Germany. Articulating an eastern perspective...... on the past, the writers express memories and “postmemories” of Stalinism, the German occupation, and the Soviet regime. By exposing their experience of a two-fold victimization, both as Jews and as people subjected to Communist suppression, writers such as Vladimir Vertlib and Katja Petrowskaja challenge...

Full Text Available Overall progress recorded in contemporary society, has increased at the same time the aspirations and expectations of the population, marked by phenomena which are based on the financial policy of the Executive. Of course, for the legislature to know the financial activity carried out by the Executive Board, in each State was established a Supreme Audit Institution (SAI, whose independence is guaranteed by the Constitution, as it is in Germany, or by law, as is the case of the United Kingdom. The variety of powers of supreme audit, is the result of various economic areas, each demonstrations through specific activities and suitable approaches to organizational cultures, which gives them their distinct identities. The work is conducted under the public responsibility with an emphasis on developing and improving continuously audit methodologies to present best practices. The two supreme institutions operate according to an annual plan of action which includes financial audit or regularity and performance auditing actions, and additional Federal Court of Audit of Germany practice preventive control institutions contained in its area of activity. By tradition, the role of supreme consists of the evaluation as regards the legality and regularity of financial management and accounting, but since the 80's but it was noticeable trend internationally to audit performance or "value for money" (United Kingdom, since the latter refers to the essence of the problem and is the final attainment of the envisaged at the time of allocation of resources. The topic researched is distinguished by originality, marked being the fact that a area so important as that of external public audit is least known works, and I wish to point out the vacuum bibliographic Supreme Audit Institutions experience in the international arena and beyond. Research methodology consists in the evaluation of resources in the area, using foreign literature. For the study of the subject of

This report analyzes and summarizes a 1988 inventory of western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis Hook.) in eastern Oregon. This inventory, conducted by the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the USDA Forest Service, was intensified to meet increased need for more information about the juniper resource than was available in previous inventories. A...

Research on Eastern Europe stresses the weakness of its civil society and the lack of political and social involvement, neglecting the question: What do people themselves think it means to be a good citizen? This study looks at citizens' definitions of good citizenship in Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, using 2002 European Social…

Research on Eastern Europe stresses the weakness of its civil society and the lack of political and social involvement, neglecting the question: What do people themselves think it means to be a good citizen? This study looks at citizens’ definitions of good citizenship in Poland, Slovenia, the Czech

Research on Eastern Europe stresses the weakness of its civil society and the lack of political and social involvement, neglecting the question: What do people themselves think it means to be a good citizen? This study looks at citizens’ definitions of good citizenship in Poland, Slovenia, the Czech

Monetary instability during the transition process from a command economy to a market economy has induced a considerable increase in currency substitution in Eastern Europe. Currency substitution itself affects monetary stability since it reduces the stability of velocity. This paper investigates cu

We present the emerging panorama of Astroparticle Physics at Eastern Colombia, and describe several ongoing projects, most of them related to the Latin American Giant Observatory (LAGO) Project. This research work is carried out at the Grupo de Investigaciones en Relatividad y Gravitaci\\'on of Universidad Industrial de Santander.

Anthracnose diseases of hardwood trees are widespread throughout the Eastern United States. The most common symptom of these diseases is dead areas or blotches on the leaves. Because of the brown and black, scorched appearance of the leaves, the diseases are sometimes called leaf blight.

Listeriosis patient isolates in Germany have shown a new identical pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) pattern since 2012 (n = 66). Almost all isolates (Listeria monocytogenes serotype 1/2a) belonged to cases living in southern Germany, indicating an outbreak with a so far unknown source. Case numbers in 2015 are high (n = 28). No outbreak cases outside Germany have been reported. Next generation sequencing revealed the unique cluster type CT1248 and confirmed the outbreak. Investigations into the source are ongoing.

This volume contains the papers given at the first Eastern Africa Conference on Language and Linguistics, held in Dar es Salaam in December 1968, under the auspices of the Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa. The chief aim of the Conference was to bring together scholars and teachers working in Eastern Africa interested…

The Early Toarcian Posidonia Shale is a proven hydrocarbon source rock which was deposited in a shallow epicontinental basin. In southern Germany, Tethyan warm-water influences from the south led to carbonate sedimentation, whereas cold-water influxes from the north controlled siliciclastic sedimentation in the northwestern parts of Germany and the Netherlands. Restricted sea-floor circulation and organic matter preservation are considered to be the consequence of an oceanic anoxic event. In contrast, non-marine conditions led to sedimentation of coarser grained sediments under progressively terrestrial conditions in northeastern Germany The present-day distribution of Posidonia Shale in northern Germany is restricted to the centres of rift basins that formed in the Late Jurassic (e.g., Lower Saxony Basin and Dogger Troughs like the West and East Holstein Troughs) as a result of erosion on the basin margins and bounding highs. The source rock characteristics are in part dependent on grain size as the Posidonia Shale in easternGermany is referred to as a mixed to non-source rock facies. In the study area, the TOC content and the organic matter quality vary vertically and laterally, likely as a consequence of a rising sea level during the Toarcian. Here we present and compare data of whole Posidonia Shale sections, investigating these variations and highlighting the variability of Posidonia Shale depositional system. During all phases of burial, gas was generated in the Posidonia Shale. Low sedimentation rates led to diffusion of early diagenetically formed biogenic methane. Isochronously formed diagenetic carbonates tightened the matrix and increased brittleness. Thermogenic gas generation occurred in wide areas of Lower Saxony as well as in Schleswig Holstein. Biogenic methane gas can still be formed today in Posidonia Shale at shallow depth in areas which were covered by Pleistocene glaciers. Submicrometric interparticle pores predominate in immature samples. At

There has been evidence of dung in lakeside and moorland settlements since the beginning of wetland archaeology in the 19th century. While evidence has been found for the easily discernible faecal pellets of sheep and goats, recognition of cattle dung has proven to be considerably more difficult. In this study, we give an overview of evidence for dung remains in prehistoric wetland settlements in Germany, Switzerland and eastern France. Various methods for the analysis of uncharred dung remai...

Full Text Available Training of German judges is part of general legal education which is the same for all regulated legal professions (judges, prosecutors, practising lawyers, lawyers in administration and private employment. This uniform qualification is acquired by passing two exams administered by the state, i.e. the Länder (not the Federation, the first exam after university studies and the second exam after state-organized practical training. The paper gives an overview of this system of legal education. Germany, as a rule, has career judges. Courts of first and second instance are administered by the Länder, therefore the Länder judicial administrations are also responsible for recruitment of young career judges. General criteria for appointment to any public office are laid down in the German constitution (Grundgesetz. Apart from this, selection proceedings differ in detail, although elaborate lists of criteria (employee profiles, competence profiles are widely used. Professional competence is judged with emphasis on exam results; personal competence and social competence are assessed in interviews with appointment commissions or staff managers of ministries of justice. The paper provides details of these proceedings and also gives the author’s personal experience with recruitment proceedings in the Court of Appeal district of Cologne.

Though international trade is increasing, the significance of imported reptiles as carriers of pathogens with relevance to animal and human health is largely unknown. Reptiles imported to Germany were therefore investigated for blood parasites using light microscopy, and the detected parasites were morphologically characterized. Four hundred ten reptiles belonging to 17 species originating from 11 Asian, South American and African countries were included. Parasites were detected in 117 (29%) of individual reptiles and in 12 species. Haemococcidea (Haemogregarina, Hepatozoon, Schellackia) were found in 84% of snakes (Python regius, Corallus caninus), 20% of lizards (Acanthocercus atricollis, Agama agama, Kinyongia fischeri, Gekko gecko) and 50% of turtles (Pelusios castaneus). Infections with Hematozoea (Plasmodium, Sauroplasma) were detected in 14% of lizards (Acanthocercus atricollis, Agama agama, Agama mwanzae, K. fischeri, Furcifer pardalis, Xenagama batillifera, Acanthosaura capra, Physignathus cocincinus), while those with Kinetoplastea (Trypanosoma) were found in 9% of snakes (Python regius, Corallus caninus) and 25 % of lizards (K. fischeri, Acanthosaura capra, G. gecko). Nematoda including filarial larvae parasitized in 10% of lizards (Agama agama, Agama mwanzae, K. fischeri, Fu. pardalis, Physignathus cocincinus). Light microscopy mostly allowed diagnosis of the parasites' genus, while species identification was not possible because of limited morphological characteristics available for parasitic developmental stages. The investigation revealed a high percentage of imported reptiles being carriers of parasites while possible vectors and pathogenicity are largely unknown so far. The spreading of haemoparasites thus represents an incalculable risk for pet reptiles, native herpetofauna and even human beings.

Over the last ten years changes in the legal framework of the German health care system have promoted the development of new health service models to improve chronic care. Recent innovations include the nation-wide introduction of disease management programmes (DMPs), integrated care contracts, community nurse programmes, the introduction of General Practitioner (GP)-centred care contracts, and new opportunities to offer interdisciplinary outpatient care in polyclinics. The aim of this article is to describe the recent developments regarding both the implementation of new health care models by statutory health insurance companies and their evaluation. As part of a European project on the development and validation of disease management evaluation methods (DISMEVAL), we carried out a selective literature search to identify relevant models and evaluation studies. However, on the basis of the currently available evaluation and study results it is difficult to judge whether these developments have actually led to an improvement in the quality of chronic care in Germany. Only for DMPs, evaluation is legally mandatory; its methods are inappropriate, though, for studying the effectiveness of DMPs. Further study results on the effectiveness of DMPs mostly focus on the DMP Diabetes mellitus type II and show consistent improvements regarding process parameters such as regular routine examinations, adherence to treatment guidelines, and quality of life. More research will be needed to determine whether DMPs can also help reduce the incidence of secondary disease and mortality in the long term.

Amphisbaenia is a speciose clade of fossorial lizards characterized by a snake-like body and a strongly reinforced skull adapted for head-first burrowing. The evolutionary origins of amphisbaenians are controversial, with molecular data uniting them with lacertids, a clade of Old World terrestrial lizards, whereas morphology supports a grouping with snakes and other limbless squamates. Reports of fossil stem amphisbaenians have been falsified, and no fossils have previously tested these competing phylogenetic hypotheses or shed light on ancestral amphisbaenian ecology. Here we report the discovery of a new lacertid-like lizard from the Eocene Messel locality of Germany that provides the first morphological evidence for lacertid-amphisbaenian monophyly on the basis of a reinforced, akinetic skull roof and braincase, supporting the view that body elongation and limblessness in amphisbaenians and snakes evolved independently. Morphometric analysis of body shape and ecology in squamates indicates that the postcranial anatomy of the new taxon is most consistent with opportunistically burrowing habits, which in combination with cranial reinforcement indicates that head-first burrowing evolved before body elongation and may have been a crucial first step in the evolution of amphisbaenian fossoriality.

Differences in mortality by retirement age have an important impact on the financing of pension insurance, yet no clear-cut results for Germany exist so far. We calculate mortality rates by retirement age from microdata on all German old-age pensioners and 1.84 million deceases. The life expectancies and survival probabilities at age 65 are estimated for population subgroups according to creditable periods because of disease and pension income. Early-retired men who reach the age of 65 years live significantly longer the later early retirement occurs; the life expectancy at age 65 ranges from 13 to 17.8 years. For each retirement age, mortality of men is higher the more periods of disease are credited in the pension insurance system. For a given length of credited periods of disease, mortality of early retirees decreases with the retirement age. 'Healthy worker selection effects' operating in the labour market may contribute to these results. The 'work longer, live longer'-result is found for each pension income quintile, which resolves the J-curve pattern found in the literature. The mortality of female old-age pensioners varies little with retirement age.

Traumatic experiences resulting from war and violence can lead to a broad spectrum of psychological and somatic stress responses. The psychological strain of traumatized refugees is frequently aggravated by specific post-migration stressors. The current healthcare provision in Germany is characterized by many restrictions. The different residence permits are associated with a limited access to medical and psychotherapeutic services. In addition, there are several barriers limiting access of this group of patients to the healthcare system (e. g. low level of training of mental healthcare staff, language barriers and lack of financing for interpreters). Empirical studies have shown that traumatized refugees profit from existing trauma-focused and evidence-based interventions. Treatment is associated with particular challenges and issues (e. g. use of interpreters, migration and culture-specific as well as legal aspects). Specialized treatment centers for traumatized refugees use a multidisciplinary treatment approach, which includes psychotherapeutic, medical and social work interventions as well as assistance with the residential status and integration programs.

This article discusses effectively maintained inequality considering two different examples from the Germany education system: secondary school attainment and enrolment in highly ranked universities among freshmen. In our analyses of secondary school attainment, we investigate whether considering...

Argues that the success of West Germany's publishing giant, Axel Springer Verlag, can be attributed to the technical excellence of its products and to the fact that these products reflect the mainstream of German thought. (FL)

Argues that the success of West Germany's publishing giant, Axel Springer Verlag, can be attributed to the technical excellence of its products and to the fact that these products reflect the mainstream of German thought. (FL)

Cohort studies and biobank projects have led to public discussions in several European countries in the past. In Germany, many medium-sized studies are currently running successfully in terms of respondent rates. However, EU-wide research on general public perceptions of biobanks and cohort studies have shown that Germany is among those countries where people express the highest reluctance for providing body material and other data for research purposes. Because of early efforts of the just-initiated German National Cohort Study, we are able to begin to investigate in greater detail how various groups of people across Germany reflect and discuss the ongoing implementation of cohort studies and biobanking in Germany. Our research is based on 15 focus group discussions in four German regions, as well as on Eurobarometer poll data on biobanking.

Sindbis virus (SINV) is an arbovirus that causes clinical symptoms, including arthritis, rash, and fever during acute human infections. In Europe, SINV outbreaks are largely restricted to northern Europe. Intrigued by the isolation of SINV from mosquitoes in southwestern Germany in 2009, we initiated a passive arbovirus-monitoring program in birds and analyzed a total of 685 samples. By this approach, we were able to detect a SINV in a Hooded Crow in Germany for the first time. It was possible to isolate SINV virus in cell cultures and even to visualize virus particles by electron microscopy. After the determination of the complete SINV genome sequence, the phylogenetic analysis revealed its close relationship to SINV genotype I sequences previously obtained from mosquitoes in Germany and Scandinavia. This first report on the isolation of viable SINV indicates the potential involvement of crows in an enzootic circulation of SINV in Germany and Central Europe.

Full Text Available This study inspects if there is greater convergence with Germany amongst the Eurozone founding members and if their relations with the hegemonic economy have been more symmetrical after “euroization”. The dimensions explored are those inspired by the optimum currency areas (OCA framework. To some extent, the findings could signify if real convergence has been significantly endogenous. At the same time, to assess the relative dominance of Germany, the features against Germany are compared to those against US. In addition, the paper also appraises some aspects of economic performance to check whether economic conditions across the states have improved and converged after unification. In some convergence aspects, findings suggest remarkable convergence with Germany and across the states but also relative convergence with US. On economic performance, results indicate substantial improvements in inflation and unemployment. Amongst the founding states, Ireland has idiosyncratically shown serious divergences in a number of the convergence and performance measures.

At the invitation of the “Moral Re-armament” Norwegian Foundation and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation of Germany, the delegation of the Chinese Association for International Understanding(CAFIU), headed by Vice-President, Mr. Zhu Dacheng,paid a visit to Norway and Germany from May 17 to 27. During the visit, we did some research on the state of NGOs in the two countries.

Frankfurt/Main, Shanghai, 12th June 2012 - Occupying 6,402 square meters of booked space,Germany already won the European Championship at ITMA ASIA ＋ CITME 2012, leaving all other competitors from Europe behind. The German exhibition area increased by 18 % compared with the 2010 edition of the show. Measured by square meters, Germany is the biggest foreign exhibiting nation at the major fair for the Asian market,

This paper aims at providing empirical evidence on social exclusion of immigrants in Germany. We demonstrate that when using a conventional definition of the social inclusion index typically applied in the literature, immigrants appear to experience a significant degree of social deprivation and exclusion, confirming much of the economic literature examining the economic assimilation of immigrants in Germany. We propose a weighting scheme that weights components of social inclusion by their s...

In the past five years, the climate for commercial biotechnology in Germany has improved significantly and has resulted in an increase in the number of biotechnology companies. On examination of the underlying factors of the evolution of the biotechnology industry in Germany, and against the background of the current situation, it is predicted that many German biotech companies will have to change their business models to focus on product development rather than on platform technologies.

Infrastructure for spatial information is an important part of our national information construction that is the subject of essentials on the social of spatial information. As an EU member, Germany has an obligation for the European spatial information infrastructure to provide its spatial data. The relevant experience of the Germany in the organization, design and implementation of spatial information infrastructure wil be a good reference to build our geospatial framework construction.

In the field of criminological comparison, Japan and Germany are very suitable subjects. A nearly identical penal law and a social structure of highly developed industrial societies after a complete destruction at the end of World War War II give a good match. At first sight, Japan's crime rate is less than 1/4 of that in Germany. The impact of organised crime on the reduction of general crime is discussed.

This report describes sports in Germany, explaining that sport is part of Germany's culture. Popular sports are enjoyed by both the public and private sector. Germany has a well-developed club and association sector. One in three Germans belongs to a sports organization. A major feature of sport in Germany is its autonomy. Popular sports begin in…

The future development of BSE-incidence in Germany is investigated using a simple epidemiological model calculation. Starting point is the development of the incidence of confirmed suspect BSE-cases in Great Britain since 1988, the hitherto known mechanisms of transmission and the measures taken to decrease the risk of transmission as well as the development of the BSE-incidence in Germany obtained from active post mortem laboratory testing of all cattle older then 24 months. The risk of transmission is characterized by the reproduction ratio of the disease. There is a shift in time between the risk of BSE transmission and the BSE incidence caused by the incubation time of more than 4 years. The observed decrease of the incidence in Germany from 2001 to 2003 is not a consequence of the measures taken at the end of 2000 to contain the disease. It can rather be explained by an import of BSE contaminated products from countries with a high BSE incidence in the years 1995/96 being used in calf feeding in Germany. From the future course of the BSE-incidence in Germany after 2003 a quantification of the recycling rate of BSE-infected material within Germany before the end of 2000 will be possible by use of the proposed model if the active surveillance is continued.

Full Text Available Germany's presidency of the European Council in the first half of 1999 has focused the attention of schlolars on Germany's attitude towards the EU. Germany's European policy has been guided from the beginning by a pro-European vision of 'the house of Europe'. The hypothesis of the article is that this paradigm of German European policy is in flux. Via a constructivist approach it is argued that we are observing a paradigm shift away from a visionary towards a pragmatic European policy which is oriented around efficiency criteria and national interest. Evidence is given by analysing the following propositions: (1 the advocates of a European vision have vanished in Germany, and the broad coalition in society towards Europe is crumbling; (2 at the same time the discussion on Europe has become highly politicised; (3 in addition, important German institutions such as the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht are reluctant to (re-strengthen the European idea; and (4 the fit between Germany's and the EU's institutional setting supports the change in paradigm. In conclusion it is argued that Germany is on its way to changing its role from that of a supporting participant to that of a self-confident active player.

Full Text Available In Germany, with the exception of the five federal supreme courts, court organization is a responsibility of the Länder (federal states. In some of the Länder, so-called employee profiles (“Anforderungsprofile“ have been established for judicial office. These lists attempt to describe criteria for certain judicial positions. They are applied in the process of promotion but also serve as an indicator for initial appointment.The European picture with respect to individual evaluation of judges is extremely diverse. In preparation for this paper, the author attempted to ascertain the situation in the Council of Europe member states. The results of this survey (to which 23 members of the CCJE have replied are listed in Appendix I.The general difficulty of professional evaluation of judges lies in the limits that have to be observed for constitutional reasons. In Germany, the overall rule of every evaluation is that there has to be a reliable factual basis. The evaluator is under a duty not to omit relevant aspects, to consider all the facts that make part of the picture, not to select arbitrarily but to try to paint a true and full picture of the person who is being evaluated. In the case of judges, it is unacceptable to comment on the core of judicial decision-making. Evaluations may be challenged in the administrative court on grounds of fact as well as on grounds of law. En Alemania, con la excepción de las cinco cortes supremas federales, la organización judicial es responsabilidad de los Länder (estados federales. En algunos de estos Länder, se han establecido los denominados perfiles de empleados (“Anforderungsprofile” para la oficina judicial. Estas listas pretenden describir los criterios para determinados cargos judiciales. Se aplican en los procesos de promoción, pero también sirven como un indicador para el nombramiento inicial.El panorama europeo respecto a la evaluación individual de los jueces es muy diverso. Preparando

in the area. The municipalities acknowledge the articulation of the city region and the initiated planning process. However, the municipalities might see the arena as means to lobby for infrastructure investments in Eastern Jutland, as it is doubtful whether the municipalities will feel encouraged to enter...... a process, which is aiming at increasing the national regulation within their territory. The result might very well be that the discussion about future infrastructure investments is not linked to discussions about future urban development in Eastern Jutland. These aspects raises serious questions about...... on which level a serious strategy formation process can take place. There is a danger that a common strategic spatial plan is more an expression of the lowest common denominator and the municipalities request for infrastructure investments rather than being a spatial strategy with transformative power. ...

Tree-ring growth of conifer trees originating from central European low mountain ranges often reveal indistinct growth-climate relationships. Temperature variations can play a crucial role, whereas water availability can also control the annual growth and become the main dominating factor. The low mountain range Pfälzerwald in the Palatinate region represents the largest contiguous forested area in Germany and features at its most eastern limitation a unique ecological setting due to its sandy soils and reduced water availability. In addition, its north-south orientation and associated lee-effects due to predominating westerlies together with altitudinal differences of more than 300 m lead to higher temperatures, lower precipitation amounts, and, as a forest management consequence, to a proportion of up to 80 % of pine trees. Despite these exceptional ecological and climatological prerequisites, calibrating tree-ring width data from 487 Pinus sylvestris core samples against regional meteorological stations (1950-2011) and gridded data (1901-2011) confirm alternating climate control mechanisms. Comparison with drought-related indices (scPDSI), combining precipitation and temperature, unfolds highest correlations with May-July conditions (r=0.34, pwine-growing regions in Germany. We collected and analyzed a 24 datasets of 57 consecutive years (1959-2015) of must sugar content, acidity, alcohol content, and sugar-free extracts in Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and Silvaner wines, originating from 15 wineries adjoining the forested area into the plain. Correlation of Riesling must sugar content against regional April-August temperature data reveals a highly significant signal (r=0.73, pextract variations of Pinot Gris are significantly controlled by March-September precipitation (r=0.76, pextract data from Riesling and Pinot Gris wine can further elucidate our understanding of longer-term climate variability in the Palatinate region.

The environmental engineering and resource efficiency has been developed into a driver of growth globally as well as in Germany. Companies operate in a highly dynamic environment being characterized by a technical progress and changes in the political and social conditions. Innovative products, processes and services which focus on environmental sustainability and efficiency are sought after on the international markets as never before.

calculations will nevertheless provide a first test of our hypothesis on the importance of vegetation dynamics as a control on ground- and lake water level fluctuations. This study is a contribution to the Virtual Institute of Integrated Climate and Landscape Evolution (ICLEA; www.iclea.de) of the Helmholtz Association (Grant Number VH-VI-415) and is supported by Helmholtz infrastructure of the Terrestrial Environmental Observatory (TERENO) North-easternGermany.

Full Text Available An aerobiological study was conducted to investigate the quantity and quality of pollen in the atmosphere of Lublin in central-eastern Poland. Pollen monitoring was carried out in the period 2001–2012 using a Hirst-type volumetric spore trap. The atmospheric pollen season in Lublin lasted, on average, from the end of January to the beginning of October. The mean air temperature during the study period was found to be higher by 1.1 °C than the mean temperature in the period 1951–2000. 56 types of pollen of plants belonging to 41 families were identified. 28 types represented woody plants and 28 represented herbaceous plants. The study distinguished 5 plant taxa the pollen of which was present most abundantly in the air of Lublin, which altogether accounted for 73.4%:[i] [b]Betula[/b], Urtica, Pinus, [b]Poaceae[/b], and [/i][b][i]Alnus[/i][/b]. The mean annual pollen index was 68 706; the largest amount of pollen was recorded in April and accounted for 33.3% of the annual pollen index. The pollen calendar included 28 allergenic plant taxa. The pollen of woody plants had the highest percentage in the pollen spectrum, on average 58.4%. The parameters of the pollen calendar for Lublin were compared with the calendar for central-eastern Europe with regard to the start of the pollen season of particular taxa. The pollen calendar for Lublin was demonstrated to show greater similarity to the calendar for Münster (Germany than to the calendar for Bratislava (Slovakia.

The metasediments of the low-grade metamorphosed Baden-Baden-Gaggenau zone of the northern Schwarzwald (southwestern Germany) have been analyzed palynologically. From 133 samples representing different metasedimentary units, only three samples of the upper part of the Traischbach Serie provide extremely poorly-preserved palynomorphs. The assemblage consists of the galeate acritarch genera Caldariola, Cymatiogaleaand Stelliferidium, as well as specimens of diacromorph and polygonomorph acritarchs. Although determinations are difficult at the generic level and essentially impossible at the specific level, the assemblage can be attributed to an interval between the Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician. This is the first biostratigraphical age assignment for the metasediments of the Baden-Baden-Gaggenau zone, which can possibly be correlated with the Villé Unit of the northern Vosges Mountains (eastern France).

Germany has very little domestic oil and natural gas production and relies heavily on imports. It has well diversified and flexible oil and natural gas supply infrastructure, which consists of crude, product and gas pipelines and crude and oil product import terminals. Natural gas is imported into Germany exclusively by cross-border pipeline. The country has no LNG infrastructure, although some German companies have booked capacities in overseas LNG terminals. Oil continues to be the main source of energy in Germany although it has declined markedly since the early 1970s. It now represents approximately 32% of Germany’s total primary energy supply (TPES). Natural gas consumption in Germany has declined 10% since 2006. Demand was 90 bcm in 2010, down from 100 bcm in 2005. According to government commissioned analysis, the total consumption of natural gas in Germany is expected to continue to decline over the long term. The share of natural gas in Germany’s TPES is currently around 22%. German oil stock levels are generally well above the required 90-days. Total oil stock levels in Germany were equivalent to 140 days net imports in April 2012. Since 1998, the German oil stockholding agency (EBV) has been solely responsible for meeting Germany's 90-day stockholding obligation. The Oil Stockholding Act stipulates that the EBV shall constantly maintain stocks of oil and petroleum products at a level equivalent to or above 90 days of net imports. There is no minimum stockholding obligation on industry, so industry held commercial stocks are held in addition to the EBV stocks. There are several legal tools available to German authorities for natural gas emergency response. These include Ordinances that can be used to restrict the sale, purchase or use of goods, both in terms of quantity and time, or permit them only for certain priority purposes, to ensure that vital energy needs are met. There are no compulsory natural gas storage requirements in Germany, and no

Full Text Available In the early phase of translation studies in Germany, contrastive linguistics played a major role. I shall briefly describe this approach so that the functional approach will become clearer by contrast. Influenced by the representatives of stylistique comparée, Vinay/Darbelnet (1968 Wolfram Wilss, for instance, in his early work (1971, 1977 makes frequent use of the notion transposition (German
“Ausdrucksverschiebung“, cf. also Catford’s (1965 term shift. As a whole, of course, Wilss’ work has a much broader scope. More recently, he has investigated the role of cognition (1988 and the various factors in translator behaviour (1996. Nevertheless, transposition is still a very important and useful notion in describing the translation process. The need for transpositions arises when there is no possibility of formal
one-to-one correspondence between source and target-language structures. The basic idea is that whenever there is a need for transposition, we are faced with a translation problem. In the early phase of translation studies in Germany, contrastive linguistics played a major role. I shall briefly describe this approach so that the functional approach will become clearer by contrast. Influenced by the representatives of stylistique comparée, Vinay/Darbelnet (1968 Wolfram Wilss, for instance, in his early work (1971, 1977 makes frequent use of the notion transposition (German
“Ausdrucksverschiebung“, cf. also Catford’s (1965 term shift. As a whole, of course, Wilss’ work has a much broader scope. More recently, he has investigated the role of cognition (1988 and the various factors in translator behaviour (1996. Nevertheless, transposition is still a very important and useful notion in describing the translation process. The need for transpositions arises when there is no possibility of formal
one-to-one correspondence between source and target-language structures. The basic idea is that whenever there is a need for

Full Text Available Core issues addressed in this article are: the existing threats to address the interests of the US geopolitical and geostrategical, particularly in South-Eastern Europe; the resources available to the American State for the protection of those interests; main features (elements geopolitical of Romania; importance for Romania's Alliance with US. Only states or groups of states that may threaten the economic interests of the U.S. military are originated from Eurasia: China, Russia, the Organization of Shanghai cooperation, the European Union. The main opponent of the U.S. in South-Eastern Europe is Russia. Geostrategical interests of Russia remains fundamentally the attempt to divide alliance NATO (in particular by providing the economic benefits of Germany and France and isolate Eastern Europe; in this way, the US military presence in Europe would become problematic. Currently, the US has enough economic and military means in order to avoid this situation.Geopolitical and geostrategical problems of Romania are of two kinds: external and internal. Externally, Romania has some diplomatic disagreements with Ukraine. At the same time, Romania was not able to resolve in the manner of the former Federal Republic of Germany, a consequence of the Second World War: the unification with the Republic of Moldova, the State created artificially by former USSR after the Second World War. Internally, the main geopolitical problems of Romania are the following: underdevelopment and the absence of real economic competitiveness of industry and agriculture; the demographic decline, lowering the standard of living of population. In the absence of support of the USA for Romania, this country will increase the degree of economic dependence towards Russia.

US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior — Bat species were inventoried on National Wildlife Refuges in Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, and Idaho using acoustic methods. Samples were collected between...

Abstract Several retrospective analyses on patients who underwent gastric cancer (GC) surgery revealed different survival outcomes between Eastern (Korean, Japanese) and Western (USA, Europe) countries due to potential ethnical and biological differences. This study investigates treatment outcomes between specialized institution for GC in Korea and Germany. The prospectively documented databases of the Gastric Cancer Center of the National Cancer Center, Korea (NCCK) and the Department of Surgery of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM), Germany were screened for patients who underwent primary surgical resection for GC between 2002 and 2008. Baseline characteristics were compared using χ2 testing, and 2 cohorts were matched using a propensity score matching (PSM) method. Patients’ survival was estimated using Kaplan–Meier method, and multivariable Cox proportional hazard model was used for comparison. Three thousand seven hundred ninety-five patients were included in the final analysis, 3542 from Korea and 253 from Germany. Baseline characteristics revealed statistically significant differences for age, tumor location, pT stage, grading, lymphatic vessel infiltration (LVI), comorbidities, number of dissected lymph nodes (LN), postoperative complications, lymph-node ratio stage, and application of adjuvant chemotherapy. After PSM, 171 patients in TUM were matched to NCCK patients, and baseline characteristics for both cohorts were well balanced. Patients in Korea had significantly longer survival than those in Germany both before and after PSM. When the analysis was performed for each UICC stage separately, same trend was found over all UICC stages before PSM. However, significant difference in survival was observed only for UICC I after PSM. This analysis demonstrates different survival outcomes after surgical treatment of GC on different continents in specialized centers after balancing of baseline characteristics by PSM. PMID:27428238

In Eastern Jutland a strategy formation process has been initiated with the aim of developing a strategic spatial plan for the city region. An organisation has been set up to deal with the first phase of the process, which is to carry out three functional analyses and prepare a common vision...... on which level a serious strategy formation process can take place. There is a danger that a common strategic spatial plan is more an expression of the lowest common denominator and the municipalities request for infrastructure investments rather than being a spatial strategy with transformative power. ...

The safe natural gas supply of Germany is guaranteed by imports, domestic delivery and underground natural gas storage facilities. More than 80 % of the consumed natural gas is imported. Due to new natural gas storage facilities as well as due to the extension of existing natural gas storage facilities, the storage of natural gas in Germany experiences an upward trend for years. This development especially experienced an enormous upswing in the last two years. The contribution under consideration reports on the status of the underground natural gas storage of crude oil products and petroleum products in Germany on the basis of the data of the Lower Saxony State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology (Hannover, FRG).

Full Text Available The intended adoption of a global reimbursement system for inpatient care in Germany envisions identical payments for identical treatments at different hospitals. This may lead to losses in some hospitals and may cause problems for the supply with health care facilities in the long run if there a important regional cost differences. Cost and performance data of 1112 hospitals in Germany have been analysed for regional differences in 2001: As regional categorizations we used official classification schemes based on centrality. The investigation does not support the postulation of additional payments for selected regions in Germany accounting for level cost-differences between hospitals. Confounding influence factors like ownership and hospital size seem to be more important. We recommend further investigations to evaluate regional cost-differences on the level of medical wards and using more risk-adjusted data. The examination of the individual case is necessary.

Climate change challenges science, politics, business and society at the international, national and regional level. The South German Climate Office at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is a contact for the structuring and dissemination of information on climate and climate change in the South German region. It provides scientifically based and user-oriented climate information. Thereby it builds a bridge between the climate sciences and society and provides scientific information on climate change in an understandable way. The expertise of KIT, in which several institutions operate on fundamental and applied climate research, and of partner institutions is the basis for the work in the climate office. The regional focus is on the south of Germany. Thematic focuses are e.g. regional climate modeling, trends in extreme weather events such as heavy rain and hail event, and issues for energy and water management. The South German Climate Office is one of four Regional Helmholtz Climate Offices, of which each has a regional and thematic focus. The users of the Climate Office can be summarized into three categories. First, there is the general public. This category consists mainly of non-professionals. Here, special attention is on an understandable translation of climate information. Attention is paid to application-related aspects, because each individual is affected in a different way by climate change. Typical examples of this category are school groups, citizens and the media. The second category consists of experts of other disciplines. Unlike the first category they are mainly interested in the exchange of results and data. It is important to the climate office to provide support for the use of climatological results. Typical representatives of this category are ministries, state offices, and companies. In the third and final category are scientists. In addition to the climatologists, this category also holds representatives from other scientific

Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) is frequently used, but there are no data about current frequency regarding specific tumor sites and equipment used for quality assurance (QA). An online survey about IMRT was executed from April to October 2014 by the collaborative IMRT working group (AK IMRT) of the German Association of Medical Physicists (DGMP). A total of 23 German institutions took part in the survey. Most reports came from users working with Elekta, Varian, and Siemens treatment machines, but also from TomoTherapy and BrainLab. Most frequent IMRT technology was volumetric modulated arc therapy (58.37 %: VMAT/''rapid arc''), followed by step-and-shoot IMRT (14.66 %), dynamic MLC (dMLC: 14.53 %), TomoTherapy (9.25 %), and 3.2 % other techniques. Different commercial hard- and software solutions are available for QA, whereas many institutes still develop their own phantoms. Data of 26,779 patients were included in the survey; 44 % were treated using IMRT techniques. IMRT was most frequently used for anal cancer, (whole) craniospinal irradiation, head and neck cancer, prostate cancer, other tumors in the pelvic region, gynecological tumors (except for breast cancer), and brain tumors. An estimated 10 % of all patients treated in 2014 with radiation in Germany were included in the survey. It is representative for the members of the AK IMRT. IMRT may be on the way to replace other treatment techniques. However, many scientific questions are still open. In particular, it is unclear when the IMRT technique should not be used. (orig.) [German] Intensitaetsmodulierte Bestrahlungstechniken (IMRT) werden oft eingesetzt. Es gibt jedoch keine Daten ueber deren Haeufigkeit in Abhaengigkeit von den Tumorentitaeten und welche Geraete fuer die Qualitaetssicherung (QA) zum Einsatz kommen. Der Arbeitskreis IMRT (AK IMRT) der Deutschen Gesellschaft fuer Medizinische Physik (DGMP) hat von April bis Oktober 2014 eine Online-Umfrage zu diesem Themenbereich

Sent by the CPAFFC,the Daoqing Shadow Play Performing Group(alias Shi Family Troupe) of Huanxian County,Gansu Province made a performance tour in Austria and Germany from October 22 to November 5,2007,during which it attended the International Puppet Theatre Festival in Mistelbach of Austria and gave performance at the opening ceremony of the International Puppet Art Festival in Bad Kreuznach of Germany.The performance tour was made at the invitation of the Austrian Association for Promotion of Friendship and Cultural Relations with China(AAPFCRC).

This paper assesses the existence and the extent of austerity‐oriented policies in Germany in the aftermath of the 2008‐9 recession. In contrast to the intensive phase of labour market and welfare state reforms in the early 2000s aimed at 'welfare readjustment', we do not see austerity policies in Germany, rather a continuation of the path that was adopted earlier. This can be explained by the economic conditions which were, and still are, much more favourable than in many other EU Member Sta...

The author of the contribution under consideration reports on the renewable energy policy and wind energy development in the Federal Republic of Germany. First of all, the author describes the historical development of the renewable energy policy since the 1970ies. Then, the environmental policies of the Red-Green Coalition (till to 2005) and of the Grand Coalition (since 2005) as well as the Renewable Energy Sources Act are described. The next section of this contribution is concern to the development of wind energy in the Federal Republic of Germany under consideration of onshore wind energy and offshore wind energy.

"A rapid growth, both economic and industrial, of the German Empire during the last decade of the nineteenth century...produced a major switch in Germany's status from that of a country of emigration to a country of immigration.... The essay gives a concise description of the characteristics of Italian migration flows towards Germany, integration processes and chain migration patterns. The impact of immigration on the receiving country is...analyzed, both in terms of economic development and from a social, political and legal point of view." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND FRE) excerpt

Malaria was in 1989/90 the most important imported disease in Germany. Most of all cases were imported by German tourists (about 75%). Africa was the most prominently represented geographic region (about 75%). Kenia and Ghana represented there the biggest share. About 33% of all patients had not done a sufficient prophylaxis against malaria. An adequate prophylaxis against malaria taking into consideration the recommendations for medicaments for different geographical areas is imperative before the number of importations of malaria into Germany can be reduced.

Results of an ethnopharmacognostic study of snakebite treatments in eastern Nicaragua are presented. Data and specimens were collected during several years of field studies. Field work consisted of plant collecting trips and interviews of snakedoctors. The annual mortality from snakebites in eastern Nicaragua is about 25% and most bites are caused by the fer-de-lance (Bothrops asper). The vascular flora of the region is estimated at 2500 species of which 435 have medicinal application including 81 that are used in snakebite treatment. The majority of species used in snakebite cures are flowering plants, 76% dicots and 20% monocots, and 80% are obtained from the second-growth forest. About half the species are herbs. Leaves are the most frequently utilized plant part. Most herbal remedies are prepared as decoctions and are administered orally. Remedies are mostly prepared with native wild species, but some are introduced domesticates, derived from either the American or Old World Tropics. All the species used contain at least one bioactive compound, and most of these bioactives have been shown in other studies to have pharmacological effects. The use of species in snakebite treatments does not necessarily imply efficacy, but it does give a limited list of species that can be studied pharmacologically for possible bioactive effects. Studies like this one are also important because they document traditional practices and species utilized for the people of the region studied as well.

Fluorescence spectra of organic matter in seawater were measured during the cruise ANT-VIII/7 of R.V. Polarsterm through the South and North Atlantic from Capetown (RSA) to Bremerhaven (Germany). The data are calibrated by normalization to the water Raman scatter band which allows their quantification without the need of fluorescence standards. Spectral structures are found which can be related to tryptophan and tyrosine-like substances, and to gelbstoff. Their distribution in the eastern Atlantic is discussed and compared with other hydrographic parameters.

Internalizing and externalizing problems based on Youth Self-Report (YSR) were investigated in an empirical sample of 371 students at the age of 13 until 18 years from common secondary and vocational schools in Rostock (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) in 2000/2001. Considering syndromes in comparison with other german and international empirical studies, internalizing and externalizing problems show high prevalence for both girls and boys. Nearly every fifth student judges themselves as within clinical range for psychiatric problems. Girls reported significant more internalizing problems (social withdrawal, somatic complaints, anxious/depressed). An interaction effect by age and sex for aggressive and delinquent behaviour was found with highest prevalence for boys at age 15/16. The frequency of internalizing problems and attention problems increases with adolescent's age. Low adolescent's education level, parental divorce and big size of siblings were associated with externalizing problems, whereas unemployment of the father was associated with depressive and social problems. Delinquent behaviour and attention problems are the most important predictors for negative school outcome like comparatively bad school achievement and low reading ability. The results suppose a possible increase in psychosocial problems of juvenile persons in easternGermany one decade after German Unification, indicated the necessity of higher supply for preventive and therapeutic programs.

To follow the traces that climate variability and change may have left in archives of terrestrial runoff, empirical modal structures are explored of observed streamflow and related climate and weather time series of the instrumental period. Here the signals are presented and discussed which may be found when using a strategy of two techniques of time series analysis in combination: matching pursuit (MP) and functional streamflow disaggregation (FSD). Hydrologic target of the study is the long daily record of Middle Elbe discharge at a gauging station near Dresden, Germany (period of interest: 1870-1997). At the regional scale, annual frequencies of occurence of the leading five grosswetterlagen (i.e., weather regimes) for Europe are analyzed, together with annual Central European surface air temperature, German precipitation, and sea level pressure at the two action centers of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Azores high and Iceland low. Tropic/subtropical links via the NAO and Eastern Pacific sea surface temperatures to the Southern Oscillation, as well as more direct connections to Asian monsoon dynamics, are confirmed and demonstrated in terms of the purely empirical, yet non-probabilistic, uncalibrated functional (i.e., dynamic) signal relationships found.

The Lower Saxony Basin (LSB) of northwestern Germany is since long a target in hydrocarbon-related research in which the organic-rich Wealden sediments, known to contain good to excellent source rocks, play an important role. We demonstrate that cost effective surface exploration and geochemical research provide significant insight into the petroleum geology of an area of interest. Our research concentrates on a sub-basin in the eastern part of the LSB and aims at assessing the petroleum geology, hydrocarbon potential, depositional environment and tectonics of the Stadthagen syncline using surface samples of Wealden outcrops and evaluating these subsequently with geochemical methods (XRF, total sulfur, total organic carbon, Rock-Eval pyrolysis) and physical property data. The depositional environment in the research area varied significantly throughout the Lower Cretaceous (oxic to anoxic) due to paleoclimate changes and tectonically induced marine ingressions. Microbial sulfate reduction related to the marine ingressions reduced organic matter quality in the basin significantly, supporting the strong vertical variability in hydrocarbon potential of the sediments. Thermal maturity data suggests a complex tectonic history for the Stadthagen syncline. Thermal maturities (oil to wet gas window) combined with a multi-heat flow scenario result in estimated burial and subsequent uplift in the region of more than 2500 m. (orig.)

This report describes the first assumed locally transmitted case of the eye worm Thelazia callipaeda in a dog living in southern Germany. A 4-year-old male golden retriever from the town of Bühl in north eastern Baden-Württemberg, about 10 km from the German-French border, showed one sided lacrimation for over 2 weeks. Despite the application of antibiotics, there was no improvement, and the dog additionally showed blepharospasmus, epiphora and red conjunctivas. A deepened eye inspection revealed five whitish filiform parasites that were morphologically identified as T. callipaeda. The partial sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1, 605 bp) from one specimen revealed a novel haplotype, which differs by 1.3% from the only one (haplotype 1) identified in Europe so far. Since the infected dog had never been abroad with the exception of two daytrips to the close Alsace region in France, the transmission of T. callipaeda most probably was domestic. With the presence of end hosts and Phortica flies nourishing on lachrymal secretions acting as intermediate hosts and an increasing number of dogs travelling to and coming from endemic regions in the South, the establishment of T. callipaeda in large parts of Europe cannot be excluded.

Compiling a daily hospital roster which complies with existing laws and tariff regulations and meets the requirements for ongoing professional training while also taking the legal regulations on the health of employees into account makes planning the duty roster a challenge. The aim of this study was to obtain a realistic picture of existing duty roster systems and of the current workloads of obstetricians in Germany. This online survey was sent to 2770 physicians training to become obstetricians or specializing in specific areas of obstetric care. The survey consisted of an anonymized 95-item questionnaire which collected data on different types of duty roster systems and the workload of obstetricians in Germany for the period from 17.02.2015 to 16.05.2015. Out of a total of 2770 physicians who were contacted, 437 (16%) completed the questionnaire. Across all forms of care, the care provided outside normal working hours usually (75%) consisted of a combination of regular working times and on-call duty or even consisted entirely of standby duty. Level I perinatal centers were most likely 20% (n = 88) to have a shift system in place. Working a shift system was significantly more common in care facilities which had previously carried out a job analysis. The number of physicians in hospitals who are present during the night shift was higher in facilities with higher numbers of births and in facilities which offered higher levels of care. In addition to regularly working overtime and the fact that often not all the hours worked were recorded, it was notable that the systems used to compile duty rosters often did not comply with legal regulations or with collectively agreed working hours nor were they compatible with the staff planning requirements. The results of this study show that the conditions of work, the working times, and the organization of working times in obstetric departments are in need of improvement. Recording the actual times worked together with an

Full Text Available Background: Eastern and South-Eastern Asian countries have witnessed a marked decline in old age mortality in recent decades. Yet no studies have investigated the trends and patterns in old age morality and cause-of-death in the region. Objective: We reviewed the trends and patterns of old age mortality and cause-of-death for countries in the region. Methods: We examined data on old age mortality in terms of life expectancy at age 65 and age-specific death rates from the 2012 Revision of the World Population Prospects for 14 countries in the region (China, Hong Kong, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam and data on cause-of-death from the WHO for five countries (China, Hong Kong, Japan, Republic of Korea, and Singapore from 1980 to 2010. Results: While mortality transitions in these populations took place in different times, and at different levels of socioeconomic development and living environment, changes in their age patterns and sex differentials in mortality showed certain similarities: women witnessed a similar decline to men in spite of their lower mortality, and young elders had a larger decline than the oldest-old. In all five countries examined for cause-of-death, most of the increases in life expectancy at age 65 in both men and women were attributable to declines in mortality from stroke and heart disease. GDP per capita, educational level, and urbanization explained much of the variations in life expectancy and cause-specific mortality, indicating critical contributions of these basic socioeconomic development indicators to the mortality decline over time in the region. Conclusions: These findings shed light on the relationship between epidemiological transition, changing age patterns of mortality, and improving life expectancy in these populations.

Behavioral problems are frequent among post-institutionalized Eastern European adoptees. However, risk factors related to outcomes have not been fully delineated. We evaluated 50 Eastern European adoptees, age 8-10 years, with their adoptive families for more than five years. Cognitive and behavioral outcomes and parenting stress were evaluated in…

During the last ten years, retailing in Eastern Europe has undergone considerable changes. The entry of Western European retail chains into Eastern Europe has helped accelerate the distributive trade of Eastern Europe. But what does it take to sell fish and cheese to retailers and wholesalers....... Low prices and favourable terms of payment are most important when retailers in Eastern Europe buy fish and cheese. Then follows the supplier's range of products, trustworthiness of the supplier and product quality. Eastern European wholesalers also rank price and financial conditions as most....... In comparison,Western European retailers prefer doing business with suppliers that are capable of supplying all shops in a chain. Also the question about traceability is decisive.Retailers also prefer doing business with suppliers that are interested in a long-term trade relationship and who are from their own...

In this paper we analyse how young East Germans come to be differentially placed in global network space through their socioeconomically and culturally specific engagements with globalised mediascapes and ethnoscapes. We call for greater awareness of the power differentials which shape globalisation, and draw on the theoretical work of Pierre Bourdieu to show how unequal access to social and cultural capital influences and is reflected in the ‘glocal’ connections through which young people de...

A multicentre study (Pollution Effects on Asthmatic Children in Europe (PEACE) study) investigated the relationship between the daily variation of respiratory health and air pollution in children with chronic respiratory symptoms. Data were collected for 75 children in Hettstedt (polluted) and 63 ch

A multicentre study (Pollution Effects on Asthmatic Children in Europe (PEACE) study) investigated the relationship between the daily variation of respiratory health and air pollution in children with chronic respiratory symptoms. Data were collected for 75 children in Hettstedt (polluted) and 63

Borrelia (B.) burgdorferi sensu lato, the causative agent of Lyme disease, is the most important arthropodborne zoonosis-pathogen in the Northern hemisphere. Besides small mammals, birds, primarily Passeriformes and sea birds, play an important role in the transmission, distribution and maintenance of this disease. Previous studies on birds have focused mainly on the detection of Borrelia-infected ticks. However, the presence or absence of an infected tick cannot be taken as an indicator of t...

Some aspects of the sovereignty of the modern state, and particularly of its ability to control international migration, are examined in the context of recent German experience. The author first considers the frontier that existed between the two German states prior to 1989, which attempted to rigorously control migration. Next, he discusses the agreements that the German authorities have attempted to make with governments to the east in an effort to establish a measure of border control following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Finally, the author examines the German government's efforts to develop an international system of common frontiers with countries to the east and south.

Full Text Available Aims. The study is part of the pilot project “children in preschools” and aims to detect developmental risks of preschool children in the context of their socioeconomic status (SES as a base to initiate individual intervention strategies. Methods. The “Dortmund Developmental Screening for the Kindergarten” was used in 12 preschools in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (MWP to detect early developmental risks in children aged 3 to 6 years (n=870. Socioeconomic data from n=530 parents were collected by a standardised questionnaire. Results. Significant differences between the SES groups were identified especially in the field of fine motor skills (P<0.05. In gross motor development differences were not statistically significant. Prevalence rate of fine motor developmental risks ranges from 1.7% to 20.9%; the rate of gross motor developmental risks tops out at 14.4%. The prevalence rates are associated with age and sex. Conclusions. Fine motor skills in 3–6 years old preschool children are significantly associated with the socioeconomic status. In gross motor skills an association could not be identified. In this study, motor development was more affected by sex than by SES.

According to recent calculations of the Umweltbundesamt (Federal Environmental Office), all German nuclear power plants can be decommissioned from 2017. This will result neither in supply shortages nor in higher electricity rates, and Germany's climate protection goals will not be in danger either. There will be no need to import nuclear power from other countries. (orig.)

A superconducting gravimeter has observed with high accuracy (to within a few nm s¿2) and high frequency (1 Hz) the temporal variations in the earth¿s gravity field near Moxa, Germany, since 1999. Hourly gravity residuals are obtained by time averaging and correcting for earth tides, polar motion,

The supply of certain substrates for biogas production is partly controversial discussed: 'Tank-or-plate' discussions, maize cultivation of the landscape and so forth. The research project 'Potential study for the sustainable production and supply of gaseous, renewable energy in Germany (Biogas Atlas)' examines the potentials of biogas production under consideration of various sustainability factors.

In a European comparison, the childcare profession in Germany has taken a distinct path of development which is closely interwoven with the history of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in general. Institutional choices critical to this path are the assignment of childcare as part of social welfare, the pursuit of a maternalist tradition in…

This paper explores the importance and impact of sport in Germany from a variety of perspectives. Topics include: (1) the social function of sport; (2) popular sport, focusing on exercise and self-development rather than competition; (3) sport's role in the leisure activities of the handicapped; (4) top sport performers; (5) drugs and sport; (6)…

Results of interviews with educators in England, Germany, and Switzerland are combined with statistical data in this study of the effects of declining enrollment and the development of multicultural programs in those countries. In all three countries, the author encountered a prevailing resistance to program change in the face of declining…

Full Text Available With the end of the Cold War, much attention has been paid to the nature of the emerging new world order. By what criteria will power and influence be measured in this new era? Who will be the winners and losers? What types of allegiances will develop? Or is Francis Fukuyama's argument correct that, with the collapse of communism, we have reached the "...endpoint of man's ideological evolution" and thus "the end of history". Unlike Marx, who saw socialism at the end of humanity's arduous journey, Fukuyama tells us that the search is off because we have already arrived at our evolutionary destination: liberal capitalism...Other analysts envision less optimistic scenarios...One of the most popular scenarios over the past few years has been to anticipate growing tensions between the three main core powers: the US, Germany, and Japan... The first task of this paper, then, is to look at Germany within the context of the radically altered post-Cold War period... We argue that Germany, based on a multitude of factors which will be outlined below, is not now, nor will it ever become in the foreseeable future, a global hegemon... Indeed, as will be asserted in the second part of this paper, Germany will enter into a close alliance with the United States to form a reinvigorated trans-Atlantic marriage in which the common bonds of "culture and civilization" will replace a virulent anti-communism as the common vow.

In German music education, the term "community music" is almost unknown. There could be various reasons for this fact such as a lack of community music activities in Germany, terminological problems concerning the German translation, or an appropriate explanation of the term "community music." This paper will discuss some of…

Of the large industrial countries, Germany is clearly leading with regard to new renewable energy sources, occupying first rank in terms of installed capacity for wind energy and second for photovoltaics. This is not because of an exceptional natural resource base but because of public policy in this area, despite the fact that this policy was…

The discussion of compensating for shortages of cadaveric donation with increased living donation often reveals differences between the Scandinavian countries and Germany. Possible adoption of Scandinavian structures to improve the rate of living donations in Germany warrants analysis of the actual differences between these two regions. Close examination reveals that significantly higher rates of living donation are achieved only in Sweden and Norway. In Norway, a frequently postulated negative effect on cadaveric donation due to very high rates of living donation could not be confirmed. In contrast to Germany and as a consequence of Norwegian geography, kidney transplantation has been regarded in Norway as the first-line therapy for endstage renal disease for more than 35 years. Living donation has since been actively pursued and is traditionally the transplantation of first choice. In Germany, living donation is still regarded as the second choice after cadaveric donation, due to legal regulations. Significant improvements in living donation frequencies could be achieved there by adopting the active Norwegian approach to living donor identification.

As a consequence of the rapid growth of temporary agency employment in Germany, the debate on the poor working conditions of temps, specifically their remuneration, has intensified recently. Using administrative data, the paper shows that the wage gap for German temp workers is rather large and v...

Expansion of the powerful former West German teacher union (the Trade Union for Educators and Scholars) into the former East Germany is chronicled, and potential problems of the recruitment effort are examined. Declining teacher morale and unfulfilled promises of opportunity and freedom of speech are seen as serious threats to positive change.…

The International Technology Program (IT?), formerly the international Technology Exchange Program (ITEP), of the Department of Energy`s (DOE`s) Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (EM) is responsible for promoting: (1) the import of innovative technologies to better address EM`s needs; and (2) the export of US services into foreign markets to enhance US competitiveness. Under this program: (1) the environmental restoration market in Germany was evaluated, including the description of the general types of environmental problems, the environmental regulations, and specific selected contaminated sites; and (2) potentially innovative environmental restoration technologies, either commercially available or under development in Germany, were identified, described and evaluated. It was found that: (1) the environmental restoration market in Germany is very large, on the order of several billion US dollars per year, with a significant portion possibly available to US businesses; and (2) a large number (54) of innovative environmental restoration technologies, which are either commercially available or under development in Germany, may have some benefit to the DOE EM program and should be considered for transfer to the US.

To investigate 2,017 cases of hantavirus disease in Germany, we compared 38 new patient-derived Puumala virus RNA sequences identified in 2010 with bank vole–derived small segment RNA sequences. The epidemic process was driven by outbreaks of 6 Puumala virus clades comprising strains of human and vole origin. Each clade corresponded to a different outbreak region. PMID:22932394

The earliest pottery in Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany, was produced by the Final Mesolithic Ertebølle culture. Radiocarbon dating of food crusts on Ertebølle pottery indicated that ceramics from inland sites were substantially older than those from the coast. Therefore, a freshwater...

This presentation provided a historical overview of the development of green roofs in Germany. Real interest in green roof technology in Germany began in the 1970s at which time specific guidelines for correct installation were established. In the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of green roofs. The main market drivers were ecological concerns, energy and cost saving potential, as well as the need to manage storm water. Green roofs have an insulating effect, leading to energy savings. Some cities in Germany have implemented an incentive program whereby reductions on city water fees are allocated to owners of green roofs. Many business opportunities have been created by an increased interest in green roofs. The demand for lava, pumice, expanded clay, recycled roof tiles, crushed brick and other materials is being met by a new industry. There has been a noted increase in green roof systems and components, as well as installation and maintenance companies. It is expected that the ever increasing price for land in German cities along with an increasing population density will spur an even greater demand for green roofs. Germany is considered one of the greenest countries in the world, due to public concern for all forms of pollution, the maintenance of ecological balance, the preservation of flora and fauna, and a respect for nature. 6 refs.

This article describes historical attitudes toward people with disabilities in Germany and how this context produced mass murder of people with disabilities prior to and during World War II. Key marker variables are examined, including the rise of Darwinism and eugenics. Resistance to disability as a genocidal marker is discussed. (Contains…

This article analyzes brain scientists' attempts to trace morality in the brain in Germany from 1930 to 1960. The debate around Karl Kleist's localization of the Gemeinschafts-Ich [community-I] in the 1930s is depicted in order to illustrate the central arguments for and against localizations of

Germany's economic order is labelled "Social Market Economy" in order to indicate that the economic system has both an economic and a social dimension. Its purpose is to reconcile efficiency goals and social responsibility. The concept of the Social Market Economy is based on central values such as freedom or justice. Under the label…

Describes the situation of further education in the Federal Republic of Germany, examining its interrelation with (1) recent history, (2) the new technology, (3) legislation, (4) educational philosophy and public policy of supporting institutions, (5) labor, (6) changing social structures, and (7) international relations. (Author/CH)

We use econometric methods to investigate consumer demand for bananas and for other fruit in Germany. Monthly household survey data for the period 1986-1998 are analysed. Demand for bananas is significantly responsive to own price, suggesting that policy-induced price increases generate the usual de

I examine patterns of joblessness among immigrant men and women from 33 countries of origin now living in Britain, Germany and Sweden. Access to welfare, access to the labor market, job segregation and institutional support for women's employment define distinct policy configurations in these three destinations. Findings show that gaps in…

Examined the relationship between kindergarten attendance and seventh-grade school placement of children in West Germany, differentiating associations for children of citizens from those of immigrants' children. Found a significant relationship between kindergarten attendance and later school placement for children in immigrant households but not…

The focus of this article is on children of migrant workers and immigrants in the schools of West Germany, Sweden and England. One central problem, that of language, is considered both as it is dealt with in policy, i. e., in curricula, and as it is actually implemented in some programs, which are typical for the actions in these countries.…

This article presents a brief analysis of teacher education in five European countries: Italy, Germany, England, Sweden and Finland. In the post-industrial world, the sense of teaching has profoundly changed, influenced by a rapidly evolving socio-economic context. The responses given by each country are different, but two tendencies emerge: on…

A superconducting gravimeter has observed with high accuracy (to within a few nm s¿2) and high frequency (1 Hz) the temporal variations in the earth¿s gravity field near Moxa, Germany, since 1999. Hourly gravity residuals are obtained by time averaging and correcting for earth tides, polar motion, b

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether narrative corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures (the provision of textual information on companies’ environmental and social performance to external stakeholders) are associated with firm value in Germany. Design/methodology/appro

This document presents the history of environmental education in Germany and reports on the diversions and solutions in the search for sustainable education. Five sections include: (1) "Environmental Education: Learning with All One's Senses"; (2) "Sustainability as the New Model: Knowledge of a New Quality"; (3) "Tomorrow's Education in…

At the Epigenetics Europe conference in Munich, Germany, held on 8-9 September 2011, 19 speakers from different European countries were presenting novel data and concepts on molecular epigenetics. The talks were mainly focused on questions of the generation, maintenance, flexibility and erasure of DNA methylation patterns in context of other epigenetic signals like histone tail modifications and ncRNAs.

Background: This study presents age group-specific mortality rates and the average life expectancy of people with intellectual disabilities in Germany. Method: For two samples from Westphalia-Lippe and Baden-Wuerttemberg, person-related data for the years 2007-2009 were analysed. Age group-specific mortality rates were estimated by exponential…

Presents a historical review of German relations with European nations from the end of World War II until 1992. Claims that Chancellor Willy Brandt's efforts to improve East-West relations set the stage for German reunification. Contends that Germany's role in a united Europe has yet to be determined. (CFR)

Designed as a resource for teachers to help high school students understand the new Germany, six background papers and nine lessons provide information on the difficult transition from the Third Reich to defeat and military occupation, on the establishment of two successor states, and on revolution and reunification. The six background papers…

At the invitation of INTERKULTUR,Association of Communes of Romania(ACOR)and Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe(NALAS),a China International Friendship Cities Association(CIFCA)delegation led by CPAFFC Vice President Xie Yuan visited Germany,

Since 2006, the Kolumbus-Kids project in Germany has been supporting gifted learners between the ages 9 and 12. Selected children from regional schools are invited to participate in courses dealing with biological problems and phenomena at university. In order to attend these sessions, they first have to pass a special performance test and a test…

, I present a study of four plans from four Western European countries: England, France, Germany and Scotland, identifying how obesity is defined as a political issue. The questions addressed are: How is the development in the obesity prevalence explained and who is considered responsible...

This article examines the coordination mechanisms, in Germany and Denmark, which develop negotiation positions for the Council in the European Union (EU). The analysis studies these mechanisms through the lens of the ‘politics of institutional choice’ approach, which previous scholars have applie...

Discusses the contentious relationship between educators within the former East Germany and their West German cohorts following reunification. The problems have stemmed from conflicting ideologies and traditions (Marxist versus Christian Democrat and Social Democrat) as well as differences concerning school organization and educational objectives.…

The article describes how the German Social Democratic Party promoted educational reform in Germany before World War I. It demanded state support for a secularized school program, suggested curricular reforms to instill socialist values, and promoted adult education and socialist training in the home. (AV)

International pour l’Etude Scientifique des Techniques de Production Mécanique (CIRP). In the project, 15 research laboratories have been involved from 9 countries: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, USA. A total of 24 CMMs were used to measure an optomechanical hole...

Background:An introduction to a forensic medical homicide database established at the Department of Forensic Medicine in Copenhagen. Content: The database contains substantial clinical and demographic data obtained in conjunction with medico-legal autopsies of victims and forensic clinical...... examinations of perpetrators in homicide cases in eastern Denmark. Validity and coverage: The database contains information on all homicide cases investigated at the Department of Forensic Medicine in Copenhagen since 1971. Coverage for the catchment area of the department is assumed to be very good because...... of a medico-legal homicide autopsy rate close to 100%. Regional differences might exist however, due to the fact that the catchment area of the department is dominated by the city of Copenhagen. Conclusions: The strength of the database includes a long running time, near complete regional coverage...

To reduce Europe`s greenhouse gas emission CO{sub 2} it is a challenging task utilising biomass fuels as there are wood or wood residues from the forest industry. The utilisation can be done either in commercially operated medium (> 50 kWth) or full scale (> 1 MWth) decentralised heat and power stations or in small scale (< 50 kWth) domestic heating systems. In small scale heating systems untreated wood logs, wood briquette or wood pellets and in few cases wood chips are used. The present market in Germany is focused on the use of wood logs. Presently, the use of wood pellets in small scale automatically operated boilers < 15 kW especially for low energy houses is discussed more and more. Since 1980 the installation of new wood fired small scale domestic heating systems reached a significant size due to the interest of the customers to have a alternative inhouse heating system and to increase the living comfort. In 1994 the amount of sold small scale heaters in Germany were in total about 133.258 units. The thermal power of in 1994 sold units is estimated of about 1350 MW which is a significant size in total with regard to domestic heating purposes. Since few years there is a clear market trend in Germany towards the installation of open fire stoves. Due to this trend in Germany and the design characteristic of open fire stoves using huge glass doors of glass windows it is very difficult to achieve a further reduction of emissions like CO and unburned volatile hydrocarbons (VOC). In the text the requirements for modern small scale wood fired stoves in Germany as well as the actual stage and trend of research and development (R and D) are discussed 4 refs.

Surgical research in Germany is performed within surgical clinics by individual working groups or in surgical research divisions. Additionally, a few independent institutes and departments of surgical research have been established at medical faculties. The number of these institutions, however, is too small. To increase productivity in surgical research, structural changes are necessary, including additional establishment of further institutes and professorships. The quality of clinical research in surgery in Germany is critically discussed. International comparison shows that Germany has a low ranking with respect to the number of clinical studies published in leading surgical journals. However, there has been some improvement in the quality of clinical studies performed in surgical departments during the last 15 years. The establishment of the study center of the German Society of Surgery shows that excellent clinical studies with adequate numbers of patients can also be performed in Germany and can be published in leading journals. Accordingly, there is need to distribute the structures and the competence necessary to perform clinical studies in a standardized manner to all surgical departments involved in clinical research. The experimental surgical research in Germany is not adequately visible, although over the last 10 years the most relevant publications from institutions for surgical research have been placed in journals with a mean impact factor of 8. This may be due to the fact that 85% of these top publications are published in non-surgical journals. The aim for the future must therefore be to increase the impact factor and, thus, the attractiveness of surgical journals. This may be achieved by publishing the highest quality results from experimental surgical research not in non-surgical but in surgical journals.

Europe (p <0.01 compared to those born in Africa, Asia, or Eastern Europe. Clinical symptoms of HHV-8 infection were reported to be uncommon; only one child had a history of KS at 2 years of age. Conclusions: Vertically HIV-infected pediatric patients living in Germany showed a high HHV-8 seroprevalence of 23.8%. These rates were higher as expected in the normal pediatric population. The findings suggest that HHV-8 infection occurred already in the first years of life.

... rates based entirely on facts available. See Ball Bearings and Parts Thereof From France, Germany, Italy... International Trade Administration Ball Bearings and Parts Thereof From France, Germany, and Italy: Preliminary... France, Germany, and Italy for the period May 1, 2010, through April 30, 2011. We have preliminarily...

Turkish and Russian immigrants are the two largest groups of immigrants in Germany, but there are some important differences regarding their legal status. Although most of the Turkish adolescents were born in Germany, few of them have German citizenship. In contrast, most of the Russian youths were born outside Germany, but they mostly possess…

efforts to combat transnational terrorism is magnified. The increase in domestic cooperation in Italy and international cooperation in Germany further...Today Germany still sees a terrorist threat from extremism characteristic of transnational terrorism, especially as Germany has become more and...demarcation,” where ideas of fascism, feminism , internationalism, separatism, and communism are used by multiple, often mutually antagonistic

This essay compares Germany's persistent financial disequilibrium with the balance of payments situation in the United States. Delivered at a Symposium on German Economic Growth and Stability, the author concentrates on Germany's balance of payments surplus and presents U.S. figures mainly as a point of comparison. The material on Germany has been…

... International Trade Administration Lightweight Thermal Paper from Germany: Notice of Partial Rescission of... (thermal paper) from Germany for the period of review (POR) November 1, 2009, through October 31, 2010. See... from Germany, covering two respondents, Mitsubishi and Koehler. See Initiation of Antidumping...

... International Trade Administration Ball Bearings and Parts Thereof From Germany: Final Results of Antidumping... order on ball bearings and parts thereof from Germany. The period of review (POR) is May 1, 2011... September 15, 2011, the Department revoked the order on ball bearings and parts thereof from Germany as...

... International Trade Administration Ball Bearings and Parts Thereof From Germany: Initiation of Antidumping Duty...-circumstances review of the antidumping duty order on ball bearings and parts thereof from Germany with respect... parts thereof from Germany on May 15, 1989. See Antidumping Duty Orders: Ball Bearings,...

... International Trade Administration Ball Bearings and Parts Thereof From Germany: Preliminary Results of... thereof from Germany. The period of review (POR) is May 1, 2011, through September 14, 2011.\\1\\ We..., 2011, the Department revoked the order on ball bearings and parts thereof from Germany as...

... International Trade Administration Ball Bearings and Parts Thereof From Germany: Initiation of Antidumping Duty... the antidumping duty order on ball bearings and parts thereof from Germany with respect to myonic GmbH... spherical plain bearings and parts thereof from Germany on May 15, 1989. See Antidumping Duty Orders:...

... International Trade Administration Lightweight Thermal Paper from Germany: Notice of Partial Rescission of... (thermal paper) from Germany for the period of review (POR), November 20, 2008, through October 31, 2009... from Germany, covering two respondents, Mitsubishi and Koehler. See Initiation of Antidumping...

... COMMISSION Stainless Steel Sheet and Strip From Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Taiwan... from Germany, Italy, and Mexico \\2\\ would not be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of... with respect to stainless steel sheet and strip from Germany, Italy, and Mexico, and Commissioner...

... International Trade Administration Lightweight Thermal Paper From Germany: Notice of Partial Rescission of... (thermal paper) from Germany for the period of review (POR) November 1, 2010, through October 31, 2011.\\1... from Germany, covering two respondents, Mitsubishi and Koehler.\\3\\ \\3\\ See Initiation of...

The eastern part of the Alpine chain is considered as an area of complex tectonics and lithospheric structure. Having a relatively dense network of stations in this region provides an opportunity to study the crustal and lithospheric velocity structure using ambient-noise correlations methods. We used continuous data recorded during 2014 at 50 permanent stations located in Austria, Germany, northern Italy, and Slovenia, along with data from 8 temporary stations of the Eastern Alpine Seismic Investigation (EASI) profile. Cross correlation of ambient noise are performed in order to estimate the Green's functions of surface waves propagating between station pairs. Dispersion curves of Rayleigh and Love waves are constructed between 2 and 30 seconds and are then inverted to obtain group velocity maps at different frequency (depth) levels. We present here a new crustal-lithospheric velocity model for the Southern and Eastern Alps, which reveals clear spatial velocity variation and contrasts, associated with major faults, deformed and damaged zones. In this study, we also assess the azimuthal anisotropy from the group velocity measurements. The new finding together with the previous results from SKS splitting and receiver function provides 3D images of anisotropy at scales ranging from crust to upper mantle. This allows us to discuss the strain field and deformation pattern within both shallow and lithospheric-asthenospheric depth, in relation with the most prominent tectonic processes in the region, such as eastward extrusion of the ALCAPA block (Eastern Alps, Western Carpathian, and Pannonian Basin).

Drug abuse has a long, but also different history in Germany and China. The Opium War largely influenced the history of China in 19th century; however,China was once recognized as a drug-free nation for 3 decades from the 1950s to the 1980s. Drug abuse has spread quickly since re-emerging as a national problem in China in the late 1980s. The number of registered drug abusers increased from 70000 in 1990 to more than 1 million by the end of 2005. In past decades, illicit drug trafficking and production have swept most provinces in China, and drug abuse has caused many problems for both abusers and the community. One major drugrelated problem is the spread of HIV, which has caused major social and economic damage in China. Germany, the largest developed European country, also faces the drug and addiction problem. Germany has about 150 000 heroin addicts, for whom HIV/AIDS has become a serious threat since the mid 1980s. To control the drug problem, the German Government adopted the "Action Plan on Drugs and Addiction" in 2003; the China Central Government approved a similar regulation in the antidrug campaign in 2005. Germany has experience in reducing drug-related harm. The methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) program has run for more than 20 years and the public has become more tolerant of addicts. In 2003,China began the MMT program for controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS. It is necessary for China to learn from developed countries to acquire success in its antidrug campaign. In this review, we will go over the differences and similarities in drug abuse between Germany and China. The differences are related to history,population and economics, drug policy context, drug laws, HIV/hepatitis C virus infection, the MMT program and so on. These 2 nations have drug abuse problems with different histories and currently use different approaches to handle illicit drug marketing and use. The legal penalties for illicit drug offences reflect the social differences of these 2

The Eastern Interconnection (EI) is one of the largest power systems in the world, and its size and complexity have historically made it difficult to study in high levels of detail in a modeling environment. In order to understand how this system might be impacted by high penetrations (30% of total annual generation) of wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) during steady state operations, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) conducted the Eastern Renewable Generation Integration Study (ERGIS). This study investigates certain aspects of the reliability and economic efficiency problem faced by power system operators and planners. Specifically, the study models the ability to meet electricity demand at a 5-minute time interval by scheduling resources for known ramping events, while maintaining adequate reserves to meet random variation in supply and demand, and contingency events. To measure the ability to meet these requirements, a unit commitment and economic dispatch (UC&ED) model is employed to simulate power system operations. The economic costs of managing this system are presented using production costs, a traditional UC&ED metric that does not include any consideration of long-term fixed costs. ERGIS simulated one year of power system operations to understand regional and sub-hourly impacts of wind and PV by developing a comprehensive UC&ED model of the EI. In the analysis, it is shown that, under the study assumptions, generation from approximately 400 GW of combined wind and PV capacity can be balanced on the transmission system at a 5-minute level. In order to address the significant computational burdens associated with a model of this detail we apply novel computing techniques to dramatically reduce simulation solve time while simultaneously increasing the resolution and fidelity of the analysis. Our results also indicate that high penetrations of wind and PV (collectively variable generation (VG

Loess maps of various scales are important input data for advanced investigations of spatial loess properties such as variation in grain size, thickness and facies or study of loess provenance. Many representations of loess distribution in Northwest Germany are based on geological maps. Mostly these maps were created at the beginning of the last century. During this time especially thin loess covers were not incorporated in favour of underlying hard rocks or other Quaternary deposits. Due to the change in mapping policy at the end of the last century much more of the unconsolidated rocks, particularly with regard to loess, were displayed on the revised or updated maps. In this study the analysis of optical remote sensing data, ranging from visible light to the infrared, was tested to create a more realistic map of the loess distribution in Northwest Germany. The investigation area includes the loess along the northern loess boundary between Helmstedt and Minden and extends to Kassel and Goettingen in the South. Here, in southern Lower Saxony, northern Hesse and eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, loess and loess derivates are widely distributed apart from river beds, valley flanks, steep slopes and higher mountain ranges. The thickness of the loess cover, that is of Weichselian, sporadic of Saalian or Elsterian age, varies between few centimetres and about 20 m. The hard rocks of the study area were influenced by tectonic and halokinetic processes resulting in a complex and small-scale pattern of folds, depressions, horsts and grabens. Satellite images of the Landsat TM and ETM+ sensors, recorded between 1985 and 2008, were used for this study. After radiometric calibration and atmospheric and geometric correction of every dataset, coniferous forest, water and areas of high urbanization were masked. Then a synthetic file was made up of all remaining pixels, preferring the pixel, displaying the purest soil or bare rock. Various digital mapping techniques e.g. band

Dirofilaria repens is endemic in eastern and southern European regions but was recently found in Germany in dogs, mosquitoes and one human patient. Since some of the positive dog and mosquito samples were collected in Brandenburg, it was aimed to systematically assess the prevalence of D. repens and other canine vector-borne pathogens in Brandenburg. Dog owners also received a questionnaire and were asked to provide more information about the dogs including travel history. In total, 1023 dog blood samples as well as 195 fox spleen and 179 fox blood samples were collected. DNA was analysed by PCR for the presence of filariae, piroplasms, anaplasmataceae and Rickettsia spp. Filariae were detected in six dogs (0.6%), two were positive for DNA from D. repens, two from Dirofilaria immitis and two from Acanthocheilonema reconditum. One of the D. repens positive dogs originated from an animal shelter in Brandenburg, but the origin of the other one remained unknown. Interestingly, both D. repens ITS-1 sequences showed 100% identity to a D. repens sample obtained from a Japanese woman that travelled in Europe and were 97% identical to a newly proposed species Dirofilaria sp. 'hongkongensis' described from Hong Kong. However, identity to other D. repens sequences from Thailand was considerably lower (81%). Identity of 12S rRNA and cytochrome oxidase I to D. repens samples from southern Europe was 99%. Due to the low number of Dirofilaria spp. positive dogs and since the origin of these was unknown, endemic occurrence of Dirofilaria in Brandenburg could not be confirmed. Anaplasma phagocytophilum was found in 15 dogs (1.5%), Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis in three dogs (0.3%) and E. canis in one dog (0.1%), which was co-infected with D. repens. Rickettsia spp. were detected in 8 dogs (0.8%), seven were Rickettsia raoultii and one was Rickettsia felis. To the author's knowledge, R. raoultii DNA was detected for the first time in dogs in Germany in this study and Candidatus

Full Text Available The current world is not moving as all specialists predicted. Brexit, Trump, everyone was wrong. This paper will have two targets: describing the French policy toward Russia, making a perspective on the future policy, whatever the new French presidency in 2017, Francois Hollande will transmit the key to his successor with new election. He refused to compete for a second mandate. It is good to remind that Hollande was involving in the Ukrainian affairs and had managed with Germany the Minsk I and II agreements. He also had suspended Mistral ships selling and approving sanctions against Russia. How will be the future with François Fillon, Marine Le Pen or other? The analysis will be focusing on the future relationships toward Russia and Eastern European Countries.

Full Text Available Our paper investigates the extent of capital market co-movements between three emerging markets Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland and three developed markets from the European Union – Austria, France and Germany. We test whether an increase in correlations between the six markets took place in recent years, as revealing higher integration of capital markets in the region. We find a statistically significant positive trend in cross-market correlations between 1999 and 2008, before the emergence of the global financial crisis. Movements in national stock markets are not fully synchronized, but increases in market volatilities lead to increases in cross-country correlations. There is a long-term relationship between some of these countries capital markets, and information is transmitted from one market to the other. Our findings confirm previous studies and lead to the conclusion that stock markets from Central and Eastern Europe became more integrated with the developed markets in European Union.

This power point presentation addressed the following topics regarding development of natural gas in eastern Canada: (1) the 18 Tcf of proven natural gas reserves at Sable Island, (2) Canadian markets benefiting from the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline (M and NP), (3) a 20 year franchise agreement between Enbridge Gas and the government of New Brunswick, (4) the 25 year provincial franchise agreement by Sempra Atlantic Gas, and (5) Sable Island's influence on central Canada. The Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP) is now producing about 540,000 MMBtu/day from 6 fields. Plans for Tier 2 expansion are underway. Firm contracts for the M and NP are scheduled to transport gas from the SOEP to markets in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine and New Hampshire. Sable gas is also a potential supply for the Quebec market. Gaz Metropolitain and Enbridge have proposed to build the Cartier Pipeline from the Quebec/New Brunswick border to Quebec City. It is unlikely that Sable Island supply will directly serve the Ontario market. Canadian customers for Sable gas and M and NP service include pulp and paper companies, oil refineries, power generators and local distribution companies (LDC), with the majority of demand coming form the electric power industry. tabs., figs.

Sep 25, 1984 ... pools, estuaries and in near -shore waters of the eastern Cape ... growth, ~ Wt is the increase in shrimp mean mass over time .... females were plotted to show changes in population structure ..... Monthly plankton tows in.

The Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review (EASSRR) is a bi-annual ... Dynamics of fresh produce marketing in small-scale irrigation schemes: challenges ... Analysis of media role in bridging the information gap for environmentally ...

The Ph.D. project investigates different aspects of voltage stability in the power system of Eastern Denmark taking into account the large amount of wind power. In the project, a simple System Protection Scheme (SPS) against voltage instability in Eastern Denmark is developed. The SPS design...... outages in the southern part of the 132-kV system introduce further stress in the power system, eventually leading to a voltage collapse. The local System Protection Scheme against voltage collapse is designed as a response-based scheme, which is dependent on local indication of reactive and active power...... for the Eastern Danish power system, such as wind farm rejection, cascading line outages and power oscillations. E.g. Nordic inter-area oscillation modes and damping were easily detected from phasor data during the outage of the 400 kV tie-line between Eastern Denmark and Sweden. It is concluded that recording...

The review presents the epidemiology of leishmaniasis in the Eastern Africa region. We searched PUB MED and MEDLINE with several key words-namely,"leishmaniasis";"cutaneous"," diffuse cutaneous"," mucosal", and "visceral leishmaniasis";"kala azar" and "post kala azar dermal leishmaniasis"-for recont clinical and basic science articles related to leishmaniasis in countries in the Eastern Africa region. Poverty, wars, conflicts and migration have significantly aggravated leishmaniases in Eastern Africa. Of particular concern is the increasing incidence of Leishmania-HIV co-infection in Ethiopia where 20--40% of the persons affected by visceral leishmaniasis are HIV-co-infected. Sudan has the highest prevalence rate of post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis(PKDL) in the world, a skin complication of visceral leishmaniasis(VL) that mainly afflicts children below age ten. In view of its spread to previously non-endemic areas and an increase in imported cases, leishmaniasis in Eastern Africa should be considered a health emergency.

About 12 % of Germany's agricultural area is used for rapeseed cultivation and two third of the harvest is converted to biodiesel. Due to requirements of the EU Renewables Directive the greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of rapeseed cultivation must be reported and sustainability criteria and GHG savings compared to fossil fuel must be achieved and certified. Current certified methodology estimates N2O field emissions from rapeseed cultivation using the IPCC Tier 1 approach based on a global emission factor (N2O emission per unit nitrogen fertilizer input) of 1 %, which is not specific for the crop. We present results from three years of measurements (2013 - 2015) on five field trials in Germany, which combined with data from a meta-analysis suggest that GHG emission factors of German rapeseed cultivation are lower than thought previously. Furthermore, results suggest that substitution of mineral fertilizers with organic fertilizers is a valid mitigation option since it avoids GHG emissions during production of mineral fertilizers.

-structured key-informant telephone-interviews on the application of ICU diaries. RESULTS: According to the survey, 8 out of 152 ICUs in the two federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Schleswig-Holstein had implemented ICU diaries and another six were planning implementation. Another 35 ICUs in other areas...... of Germany had implemented diaries and three units were planning to do so. Interviews were conducted with nurses at 14 selected ICUs. Informants reported successful adaption of the diary concept to their culture, but variability in application. No units were identified where all nursing staff participated...... in keeping ICU diaries. CONCLUSION: Six years after the introduction of ICU diaries, ICU nurses in Germany are becoming familiar with the concept. Nursing shortage and bureaucratic challenges have impeded the process of implementation, but the adaption of ICU diaries to German conditions appears...

Full Text Available The article aims to narrate the visit the Colombian militaries paid to the Nazi Germany. It is based on the idea that this presence was not only part of the relations between the two countries but, instead, it contributed to the formation of networks in interrelated spaces. These soldiers got into the German military world which, in turn, managed to infiltrate Colombia as well. The article inquires into what the parties involved wanted, who participated, what attitudes Colombians had towards that country, if those soldiers were nazis. It is concluded that three missions were sent and they do not only visited Germany, but they were also in other countries. Their reports are full of admiration for the host country and the journey raised their criticism, which is evidenced in the constant compasions between the two countries. However, knowledge transfer did not have much effect because American influence grew and WWII broke out shortly after.

The history of the 1957/58 Asian flu in Germany is systematically presented for the first time. The focus is on flu vaccination, which is discussed as a yardstick of the perception of the pandemic. International expertise on influenza virology was predominantly based in Anglo-Saxon countries. German microbiologists issued no clear recommendation for preventative vaccination until 1960. Instead, quinine was relied upon as the traditional medicinal prophylaxis. Antibiotics were more frequently administered. In East Germany, little fuss was made over the Asian flu. In line with the authorities' social hygiene orientation, vaccination was accepted as a matter of principle. In the Federal Republic and West Berlin, the population rejected the vaccination largely. It was seen as a scandal that many employees were on sick leave because of the flu, thus adversely affecting the economy.

Full Text Available Ultrafine particles in the atmosphere may have important climate and health effects. As they are below visible size and not visible for remote sensing techniques, the majority of observations thus come from ground-based measurements. Some of those observations indicate elevated sources for ultrafine particles. Here we present for the first time airborne measurements of number concentration and size distributions of ultrafine particles along defined flight paths across Germany, allowing to derive background concentrations and to identify major single sources. A significant impact of fossil fuel–related emissions on background and maximum concentrations was found. Maxima reaching up to 90 000 particles cm−3 were encountered in plumes of single large sources extending over more than 200 km. Modelling shows that about 10–40 % of Germany were continuously affected by such plumes. Regional-scale transport and boundary layer dynamics were identified as major factors controlling spatial and temporal patterns of size and number distributions.

Grid interferences caused by wind turbines (WT) are getting a severe problem in Germany with the fast increasing number of installed turbines. The wind energy capacity was doubled annually in the past three years. The actual situation and the plannings for the next years will lead to a situation, where high wind energy penetration will exercise a big influence on the power and voltage quality of local utility networks. Measurements performed in Germany according to a national guideline show a big variety in power quality performance of WT`s, which does affect the requirements for grid connection and thus the economical situation of wind energy projects to a large extent. The results from more than 25 power quality measurements will be discussed in this paper. 5 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab.

Peculiarities of trace element (TE) distribution in coals of the eastern Donets Basin (Donbas) are discussed. The correlation of TE distribution with specific features of the geological setting of the region can testify to the hydrothermal introduction of trace elements or their redistribution in fluid-active zones. The geochemical regionalization of eastern Donbas is based on TE distribution. Strontium-gold-base metal, tungsten, and selenium geochemical belts and a rare metal geochemical block are outlined.

Problems in midwifery in many Central-Eastern European countries are very similar; it is possible to speak about the evolving Central-Eastern model of midwifery care. The educational models of this region have a relatively strong theoretical part; however, there is an insufficient practical dimension. Theoretical part of midwifery education in the universities is relatively autonomous and is slowly changing the professional identity of graduates.

Full Text Available According to an UN survey, only 17 countries have reached a transactional stage of E-Government, no country has reached the fully integrated or seamless stage. A technological way to support reaching the seamless stage can be the utilization of the Web services framework to implement advanced, integrated E-Government applications. The actual situation in Germany is taken here as an example to illustrate the typical problems of recent E-Government developments.

Germany's recovery from an unemployment disease and its resilience to the Great Recession is remarkable. Its success story makes it a showcase for labor policy and labor market reforms. This paper assesses the potential of the German experience as a model for effective, evidence-based policymaking. Flexible management of working time (through overtime and short-time work, time accounts and labor hoarding), social cohesion and controlled unit labor costs, combined with a rigid, incentive-orien...

As to the right and the volume of conscientious objection Germany has an exceptional position. At first this paper deals with the legal basis of conscientious objection and presents the number of applications for recognition of conscientious objection from 1958 to 1998. Then hypotheses are formulated for the analysis of conscientious objection time series. In spite of difficulties regarding operationalisation and not completely satisfying data the empirical testing produces acceptable results.

The subject of this study was to find out about paediatricians' approach towards fluoride within the municipal area of Berlin, Germany. For this purpose, an anonymous questionnaire consisting of 14 questions had been mailed; it was answered by a total number of 33 paediatricians. Basically, the survey indicates that they all prescribe fluorine in tablet form, but they differ about initiation and duration. About 30% prescribe fluorine between the age of 30 days and 6 years. All of ...

Full Text Available Since beginning of 1990, several projects on biosafety research were initiated in Germany with genetically modified plants. Germany was also one of the first countries active on biosafety research with genetically modified trees (GMTs. An EU-funded project coordinated by the Institute of Forest Genetics (Johann Heinrich von Thuenen Institute, Grosshansdorf, from 1994 to 1997, was the first project of this kind in Germany. In the frame of this project, transgene stability was studied under greenhouse conditions in different transgenic aspen clones. A high degree of transgene expression stability was found in transgenic lines, however, gene silencing was detected in some transgenic plants. In Germany, the jump of the GMTs from the greenhouse to the field was initiated in 1996 by the Institute of Forest Genetics (Grosshansdorf, when the first field trial with genetically modified (GM poplar was approved for five years. In the year 2000 and in cooperation with the University of Tuebingen, the same institute established a second field trial with GM poplar to study possible horizontal gene transfer (HGT from the transgenic poplar into mycorrhizal fungi. No HGT was detected in those studies. Two further national funded projects on phytoremediation and status of mycorrhizal fungi in GMTs under field conditions were run by the University of Freiburg on 2002 - 2004 and 2003 - 2005. Topics of national funded biosafety research projects on GMTs released to the field but as well on greenhouse grown plants were transgene stability, genetic containment, transgene influence on mycorrhizal and phytopathogenic fungi, generative and vegetative propagation capacity, and horizontal gene transfer.

On 1 March the exhibition was visited by a German delegation headed by Dr Hermann Schunck, Director at BMBF.From left to right: Maximilian Metzger, CERN's Secretary-General, Hermann Schunck, Director at the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and Robert Aymar, CERN's Director-General, talking to Wolfgang Holler from Butting, one of the companies at the "Germany at CERN" exhibition. Far right : Susanne-Corinna Langer-Greipl from BMBF, delegate to the CERN Finance Committee.

Daily observations of 66 stations in Northern Germany were used to calculate Haude's potential evapotranspiration. A variogram analysis tested spatial reproduction. A long range annual mean of 1951-80 of potential evapotranspiration is presented in a chart together with charts of mean evapotranspiration for oats, apples, winterwheat, beetroot, winterbarley, maize and pasture within their phenological phases emergence to maturity or end of season.

A series of papers dealing with the status of solar research and development in the Federal Republic of Germany are presented at a conference in Greece with the object of promoting international cooperation in solar energy utilization. The reports focus on solar collector designs, solar systems, heat pumps, solar homes, solar cooling and refrigeration, desalination and electric power generation. Numerous examples of systems produced by German manufacturers are illustrated and described, and performance data are presented.

The present paper compares the distributional and risk-sharing consequences of two pension reform proposals in Germany which both aim to improve the sustainability of the current system by introducing demographic variables to the benefit calculation. While the first reform proposes a so-called "sustainability factor" which measures the changes in the dependency ratio, the second reform proposes a so-called "demographic factor" which takes into account the changes in life expectancy. Our simul...

Full Text Available 150 years ago, Heinrich Bronn provided in the first German translation of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species a rather liberal interpretation, even adding his own view of Darwin's ideas in an additional 15th chapter. Ernst Haeckel widely popularized his view of Darwinian evolution based on his reading of this translation. This was long seen - probably incorrectly - as the intellectual root of social Darwinism in Germany.

Social role theory postulates that gender stereotypes are restrained for men and women observed in the same social role. Cultural differences in the valuation of communal attributes might moderate this effect. To examine this possibility, 288 participants (144 German, 144 Japanese) estimated the communal and agentic attributes of an average man or woman described in a male-dominated role, a female-dominated role, or without role information. We hypothesized and found that in Germany and Ja...

AFTER THE COLLAPSE of the Third Reich, the specialty of neurosurgery in Germany, although well developed in the late 1930s, had to start anew, and for decades to come, had to deal with the physical and political consequences of World War II. Because of the division of the country, neurosurgery developed separately in the two independent states. In West Germany, the evolution was promoted by a few personalities who represented different schools according to their own training: these "surgical neurologists" emphasized the neurological basis of neurosurgery and were represented by Traugott Riechert and the students of Otfrid Foerster, such as Arist Stender and Hans Kuhlendahl. In contrast, the "neurological surgeons" stressed their origins in general surgery. Their main proponent was Wilhelm Tönnis, who gained particular merit for promoting neurosurgical teaching, the development of new neurosurgical units, and the recognition of neurosurgery as an autonomous specialty. In East Germany, progress was delayed by a weak economy and a repressive political system. Yet several excellent neurosurgeons won international recognition, predominantly Georg Merrem, who came from the school of Fedor Krause. Following a worldwide trend, the number of neurosurgical units in West Germany increased dramatically from 18 in 1950 to 85 in 1988. In 2006, in the unified nation, 1200 certified neurosurgeons in 138 hospital departments and 75 private practices served 82 million people. Since its founding in 1949, the German Neurosurgical Society has promoted the idea of reconciliation and has focused on international collaboration in both science and education. This idea, shared by other European nations, eventually gave rise to the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies. At present, escalating costs in the health sector pose a problem to neurosurgical services and have led to reconsiderations about their structure and financing.

This paper analyses the savings behaviour of natives and immigrants in Germany. It is argued that uncertainty about future income and legal status (in case of immigrants) is a key component in the determination of the level of precautionary savings. Using the German Socio-economic Panel data it is shown that, although immigrants have lower levels of savings and are less likely to have regular savings than natives, the gap is significantly narrowed once we take loan repayments and remittances ...

The purpose of this thesis was to find out differences in the behaviour and expectations of customers in restaurants in different countries, and how those differences affect the restaurant industry. The countries Finland and Germany were chosen to be compared with each. Respondents of both countries were asked in questionnaires about their preferences of service, complaining and tipping behaviour. In addition restaurant owners/managers were asked about their way of conducting service in their...

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the unification of Germany have fundamentally changed the politics of security in Europe. This thesis analyzes German perspectives on the international security environment and offers judgements about the probable future role of nuclear deterrence in Europe. The thesis begins with a survey of the role of nuclear deterrence in the security policy of the Federal Republic of Germanv d...

In this working paper, mobility out of low wage employment in Denmark, Germany, and the United States is studied. Data used for the analysis are the Danish Longitudinal Database – a representative sample of the Danish population, and the PSID-GSOEP Equivalent File Data. Mobility is analysed...... in the United States is more sensitive to the time period. At the micro level, effects of the explanatory variables are similar across the three countries, especially for the one-year period....

Full Text Available This article describes in detail the history behind the chemical development of oral contraceptives, notably the synthesis of norethindrone, which represents the chemical template from which virtually all subsequent oral contraceptives are derived. Attention is also paid to the introduction of the most recent oral contraceptives in Germany and reasons are provided for the dim overall prognosis about the future of contraception, namely that nothing fundamentally new is on the horizon.

This book seeks new perspectives on the growing inequalities that our societies face, putting forward Structured Additive Distributional Regression as a means of statistical analysis that circumvents the common problem of analytical reduction to simple point estimators. This new approach allows the observed discrepancy between the individuals’ realities and the abstract representation of those realities to be explicitly taken into consideration using the arithmetic mean alone. In turn, the method is applied to the question of economic inequality in Germany.

The brochure under consideration gives statistical information about the bioenergy in Germany: Renewable energies (bioenergy) and solid fuels. For example, the structure of the primary energy consumption in the year 2010, the energy supply from renewables, gross electricity generation, the total sales of renewables, growth in number of installed pellet boilers, wood fuel equivalent prices by energy value or biofuels in comparison with heating oil are presented.

This thesis uses seven economic indicators to show Germany's and China's different economic conditions in recent 5 years.To write this thesis,the writer does not want to compare which country's economic standard is better;however,she wants to compare and contrast the similarities and differences between these two countries in order to let people know what they can learn from both countries.Preparing this thesis,the writer found al the economic statistics of these two countries from the Trading Economic website which realy owns authority.Also,the writer read some famous economic articles to know more about these two countries' economies.From the research,the writer found three common points of China and Germany,which are the trend of economic growth,the decline of inflation rate and the increasing of interests' rate.However,some of the economic data also reflects some differences of these two countries,such as diferent changes of exchange rate and international trading policies.However,these differences do not indicate that both of them have no means of comparability;they just ilustrate that both countries choose different policies and methods to face the change of worldwide economy.In short, Germany and China implement variety of economic strategies and the effects can be shown on the economic statistics.So,we would acknowledge these two different countries' economic situation using those statistics.

Alaria alata is a trematode of carnivores from Europe. The mesocercarial stage was recently identified in wild boar meat from Europe. Previous histopathologic studies showed the presence of unidentified parasitic cysts within the tongues of raccoons from northern Germany. For identification of the parasite species, tissue samples of 105 raccoons originating from a National Park in northern Germany and from Berlin metropolitan area were collected. Histological examination of cryotome sections of frozen as well as paraffin-embedded tongues were used to identify parasite cysts. These were located in the connective and adipose tissue and in close proximity to small arterioles, suggesting a hematogenous spread of the parasite. Often, cysts were surrounded with mild infiltration by inflammatory cells. Additionally, mesocercariae were isolated from defrosted tongue samples of 11 raccoons. Molecular-biology assays confirmed the parasite species as A. alata. Except for one positive raccoon from Berlin City, all other positive raccoons originated from the sylvan Müritz National park, indicating an abundance of intermediate hosts in this area. Our results show that raccoons can act as paratenic hosts for A. alata and extend the broad host range of this parasite to a species introduced into Germany.

For several years, the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) has been looking at the question how the climate target of a GHG-neutral Germany can be achieved. In a multi-disciplinary project launched by the agency, the first point of call was power generation because of its high emissions. It was shown in 2010 that power generation from 100 % renewable energy is possible. Even then it was understood that a renewable energy supply alone would not be enough to completely abolish greenhouse gas emissions. Other sectors of the economy would have to follow suit and undergo major changes, relying on low-GHG technology. Consequently, the study now submitted, ''Greenhouse gas-neutral Germany 2050'', includes in its research all relevant emission sources that are described in the annual National Inventory Report (NIR) on emissions and removal of greenhouse gases. Alongside complete energy supply, including heating and transport, we also look at emissions from industry, waste disposal, agriculture and forestry as well as changes in land use. We develop a target scenario. The transformations that lead to the target and related economic considerations or the selection of appropriate policy instruments, however, are not part of our study. The scenario analysis is based on the assumption that in 2050, Germany will still be an exporting industrial country with an average annual growth of 0.7 % of its gross domestic product.

Recent studies have shown that the risk of lungworm infection may have increased in dogs in Germany in recent years. Analysis of the fecal examination of dogs has shown that Angiostrongylus vasorum, Crenosoma vulpis and Eucoleus aerophilus are endemic in Germany. Infections with A. vasorum were diagnosed in 223 of the examined dogs. A total of 102 A. vasorum-positive dogs were located in Baden-Wuerttemberg, 65 in North Rhine-Westphalia, 27 in Saarland, 15 in Bavaria, 7 in Rhineland-Palatinate, 5 in Hessen and 2 in Brandenburg. A total of 170 dogs were infected with C. vulpis, 54 of which came from North Rhine-Westphalia, 40 from Baden-Wuerttemberg, 30 from Bavaria, 17 from Rhineland-Palatinate, 17 from Saarland, 9 from Hessen and 1 each from Lower Saxony, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Infections with E. aerophilus were detected in 83 dogs, of which 23 lived in Baden-Wuerttemberg, 20 in North Rhine-Westphalia, 17 in Bavaria, 11 in Rhineland-Palatinate, 7 in Hessen, 4 in Saarland and 1 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Lungworm infections in dogs appear to be well established in Germany. The aim of the study presented was to assess the main facts, occurrence, geographical distribution, clinical signs, diagnosis and therapy of lungworm infections in dogs.

To provide an overview of the development of health technology assessment (HTA) in Germany since the 1990s. Analysis of key documents (e.g. literature, laws, and other official documentation) and personal experiences. Health technology assessment (HTA) entered the political agenda in Germany only in the mid-1990s, basically as the result of a top-down approach toward more efficiency in health care, but with a strong impetus of an evidence-based medicine movement. Accordingly, HTA became part of several healthcare reform laws since 1997, which led to the establishment of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) and the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) in 2004. This tandem construction aims at using evidence in decision-making processes for coverage and other decisions. These developments have led to a considerable impact of HTA in Germany. In addition, a broad spectrum of activities at universities and in other organizations, such as the German Institute for Medical Documentation and Information (DIMDI), can be observed that contribute to both teaching and research in HTA. German researchers in the field of HTA are actively involved in international projects, such as EUNetHTA, and contribute to scientific conferences and journals.

In the framework of UNFCCC reports for greenhouse gas emissions of land use and land use change also soil organic carbon stocks and stock changes of have to be reported. Since 1990 a forest soil inventory exists for Germany, but similar data are still missing for agricultural land. Up till now, a very rough estimation of the soil organic carbon stocks based on the soil map of Germany at the scale of 1:1,000,000 and estimated soil organic carbon contents and bulk densities have been used for the national inventory reports. Now we are starting an extended agricultural soil inventory for Germany which is explicitly designed to detect soil organic carbon stocks and stock changes. We will use a grid of 8x8 km, like it was used for the forest soil inventory. In order to extrapolate from point data and perform regionalisations, not only soil type, soil parent material and basic climate parameters will be taken into account, but under agricultural land use different agricultural management practices will be considered. Management data, like crop rotation, depth and intensity of soil tillage and application of fertilizers, manure and composts are collected from farmers during the inventory via questionnaires. It was shown that those data are essential to estimate and extrapolate point data to report soil organic carbon stocks and stock changes on regional scale. The concept of this soil carbon inventory will be presented.

In recent years, large-scale flood risk analysis and mapping has gained attention. Regional to national risk assessments are needed, for example, for national risk policy developments, for large-scale disaster management planning and in the (re-)insurance industry. Despite increasing requests for comprehensive risk assessments some sectors have not received much scientific attention, one of these is the agricultural sector. In contrast to other sectors, agricultural crop losses depend strongly on the season. Also flood probability shows seasonal variation. Thus, the temporal superposition of high flood susceptibility of crops and high flood probability plays an important role for agricultural flood risk. To investigate this interrelation and provide a large-scale overview of agricultural flood risk in Germany, an agricultural crop loss model is used for crop susceptibility analyses and Germany wide seasonal flood-frequency analyses are undertaken to derive seasonal flood patterns. As a result, a Germany wide map of agricultural flood risk is shown as well as the crop type most at risk in a specific region. The risk maps may provide guidance for federal state-wide coordinated designation of retention areas.

Full Text Available Germany is a low-fertility country with a rapidly ageing population, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. There are several reasons for this trend. Germany is among the countries with the highest rates of childlessness in the world, and childlessness has become widely accepted. This is illustrated by changes in living arrangements. A broad range of living arrangements has been added to the basic model of marriage with children; namely, single living, non-marital cohabitation, lone parenthood, patchwork families and living apart together. A culture of individualism has spread in Germany which forms the basis for widespread decisions against family formation. The desired number of children has become low and family policy is considered to be a failure in terms of its influence on fertility. German family policy has had a traditional orientation centred on monetary support to families and on the promotion of the male breadwinner model. Women have been largely forced to choose between family and work, and leave the labour market when a child is born. The still prevailing concept of family policy does not help to reduce the pressure to choose between work and family life, and thus makes it easier to decide not to have children, especially for highly educated women. A change in family policy is needed which will enable couples to choose between the breadwinner-housewife and the reconciliation model. Gradually, this change is starting to take place.

Soil monitoring in Germany should register the current soil condition, monitor its changes and provide a forecast for future development. In order to achieve these goals, the long-term soil monitoring sites in Germany (BDF - Bodendauerbeobachtungsflaechen) have been established by the federal states. This has been done according to criteria worked out by soil monitoring experts. In this article a method for the examination of the suitability of Germany's soil monitoring sites for soil conservation and protection purposes, as well as for environmental monitoring and reporting, is introduced. This method includes the landscape representativity of soil monitoring sites as well as the comparability and spatial validity of collected data. Methods. BDF-criteria are operationalized in a three-step procedure: at first, a metadatabase is established containing information that allows the comparison of monitoring sites by means of measuring parameters, methods and quality assurance as well as quality control of measurements. Secondly, the representativity of the BDF-sites for soil types, land use, vegetation, and climate (air temperature, duration of sunlight, precipitation) by means of frequency statistics and neighborhood analysis is quantified. At last, the spatial validity of soil monitoring data is examined through the application of geostatistical methods. Both data and statistical methods are integrated in a geoinformationsystem (GIS). (orig.)

The cumulative effects of human activities on the grizzly bears in the central Canadian Rockies are not well known. As a result, a project was initiated in 1994 to address the urgent requirement for accurate scientific information on the habitat and populations of grizzly bears in the area of the Banff National Park and Kananaskis Country. This area is probably the most heavily used and developed area where the grizzly still survives. The information gathered throughout the course of this study will be used to better protect and manage the bears and other sensitive carnivores in the region. Using telemetry, researchers are monitoring 25 grizzly bears which were radio-collared in a 22,000 square-kilometer area in the upper Bow Valley drainage of the eastern Alberta slopes. The researchers involved in the project are working with representatives from Husky Oil and Talisman Energy on the sound development of the Moose Mountain oil and gas field without adversely affecting the grizzly bear population. Information collected over seven years indicated that the grizzly bears have few and infrequent offspring. Using the information gathered so far, the location of the Moose Mountain to Jumping Pound pipeline was carefully selected, since the bears recover very slowly from high mortality, and also considering that the food and cover had already been compromised by the high number of roads, trails and other human activities in the area. The status of the population and habitat of the grizzly bear will be assessed upon the conclusion of the field research phase in 2001. Models will be updated using the data obtained during eight years and will assist in the understanding of complex variables that affect grizzly bears.

Regional analyses of atmospheric conditions that may cause flooding of important transport infrastructure (railway tracks, highways/roads, rivers/channels) and subsequent adaptation measures are part of topic 1 of the network of experts initiated by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI). As an example case study, the December 2014 flood in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, was investigated. Atmospheric conditions at the onset of the flood event are described and evaluated with respect to the general weather circulation, initial wetness, and event precipitation. Persistent, predominantly westerly general weather circulations (GWCs) directed several low-pressure systems over the North Sea to Schleswig-Holstein during December 2014, accompanied by prolonged rainfall and finally a strong precipitation event in southern Schleswig-Holstein, causing several inland gauges to exceed their, by then maximum, water levels. Results show that the antecedent precipitation index (API) is able to reflect the soil moisture conditions and, in combination with the maximum 3-day precipitation sum (R3d), to capture the two main drivers finally leading to the flood: (1) the initial wetness of north-western Schleswig-Holstein and (2) strong event precipitation in southern and eastern Schleswig-Holstein from 21 to 23 December; at the same time, both indices exceeded their respective 5-year return periods. Further, trend analyses show that both API and R3d have been increasing during recent years, while regional patterns match the north-eastward shift of cyclone pathways, leading to a higher risk of flooding in Schleswig-Holstein. Within the network of experts, investigations of these and further indices/drivers for earth system changes (e.g. wind surge and sea level rise) derived from observations, reanalyses, and regional climate model data are planned for all German coastal areas. Results can be expected to lead to improved adaptation measures to floods

Coastal fens like the nature reserve „Hütelmoor und Heiligensee"(north-easternGermany) are important landscape elements along the southern Baltic coast, which exchange fresh water and brackish water with the Baltic Sea. These exchange processes can be understood as experiments with a natural tracer, which may be used to investigate the hydrologic behaviour of these fen systems. With the establishment of coastal protection measures such as dunes and dikes, the installation of surface drainage and, more recently, also nature conservation measures, the hydrologic regime of these coastal wetlands constantly altered over the last centuries. The rehabilitated wetland „Hütelmoor und Heiligensee" is suitable for an analysis of hydrologic change as it was monitored over the time period since nature conservation measures started in the 1990s. Collected data sets include observation of groundwater levels and electrical conductivities, weather data as well as discharge at the outlet of the drainage catchment. In this study, we identifed processes and quantify process magnitudes that govern the salt balance of the study area including its variability in space and time. We found that - over the period of rehabilitation - salt water entered the catchment with episodic storm surges by wave overtopping of dunes. The intruded brackish water was then diluted, which is a slow process occurring over decades. It is governed by local groundwater recharge from precipitation and the inflow of relatively fresh groundwater from the hinterland. It is concluded that salt inputs from the Baltic Sea provide a natural tracer of hydrological processes, which can be readily monitored via electrical conductivity measurements.

Several major flood events occurred in Germany in the past 15-20 years especially in the eastern parts along the rivers Elbe and Danube. Examples include the major floods of 2002 and 2013 with an estimated loss of about 2 billion Euros each. The last major flood events in the State of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany occurred in the years 1978 and 1993/1994 along the rivers Rhine and Neckar with an estimated total loss of about 150 million Euros (converted) each. Flood hazard originates from a combination of different meteorological, hydrological and hydraulic processes. Currently there is no defined methodology available for evaluating and quantifying the flood hazard and related risk for larger areas or whole river catchments instead of single gauges. In order to estimate the probable maximum loss for higher return periods (e.g. 200 years, PML200), a stochastic model approach is designed since observational data are limited in time and space. In our approach, precipitation is linearly composed of three elements: background precipitation, orographically-induces precipitation, and a convectively-driven part. We use linear theory of orographic precipitation formation for the stochastic precipitation model (SPM), which is based on fundamental statistics of relevant atmospheric variables. For an adequate number of historic flood events, the corresponding atmospheric conditions and parameters are determined in order to calculate a probability density function (pdf) for each variable. This method involves all theoretically possible scenarios which may not have happened, yet. This work is part of the FLORIS-SV (FLOod RISk Sparkassen Versicherung) project and establishes the first step of a complete modelling chain of the flood risk. On the basis of the generated stochastic precipitation event set, hydrological and hydraulic simulations will be performed to estimate discharge and water level. The resulting stochastic flood event set will be used to quantify the

Antimicrobial drug resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae has become an increasing public health problem. Hence, surveillance of resistance development is of crucial importance to implement adequate treatment guidelines. Data on the spread of antibiotic resistance among gonococcal isolates in Germany, however, is scarce. In a resistance surveillance study conducted by the Paul Ehrlich Society for Chemotherapy between October 2010 and December 2011, 23 laboratories all over Germany were requested to send N. gonorrhoeae isolates to the study laboratory in Frankfurt am Main. Species verification was performed biochemically using ApiNH and with Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using the Etest method. For molecular epidemiological analysis, N. gonorrhoeae strains were genotyped by means of N. gonorrhoeae multi-antigen sequence typing. A total of 213 consecutive gonococcal isolates were analyzed in this nationwide study. Applying EUCAST breakpoints, high resistance rates were found for ciprofloxacin (74%) and tetracycline (41%). Penicillin non-susceptibility was detected in 80% of isolates. The rate of azithromycin resistance was 6%, while all strains were susceptible to spectinomycin, cefixime, and ceftriaxone. Molecular typing of gonococcal isolates revealed a great heterogeneity of 99 different sequence types (ST), but ST1407 predominated (n=39). This is the first comprehensive German multi-centre surveillance study on antibiotic susceptibility and molecular epidemiology of N. gonorrhoeae with implications for antibiotic choice for treatment of gonorrhoea. The World Health Organization supports the concept that an efficacious treatment of gonorrhoea results in at least 95% of infections being cured. Accordingly, as spectinomycin is not available on the German market, only the third generation cephalosporins cefixime and ceftriaxone are regarded as valuable drugs

Aims To study the effects of smoking restrictions in Germany on coronary syndromes and their associated costs. Methods and results All German states implemented laws partially restricting smoking in the public and hospitality sectors between August 2007 and July 2008. We conducted a before-and-after study to examine trends for the hospitalization rate for angina pectoris and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) for an insurance cohort of 3,700,384 individuals 30 years and older. Outcome measures were hospitalization rates for coronary syndromes, and hospitalization costs. Mean age of the cohort was 56 years, and two-thirds were female. Some 2.2 and 1.1% persons were hospitalized for angina pectoris and AMI, respectively, during the study period from January 2004 through December 2008. Law implementation was associated with a 13.3% (95% confidence interval 8.2, 18.4) decline in angina pectoris and an 8.6% (5.0, 12.2) decline in AMI after 1 year. Hospitalization costs also decreased significantly for the two conditions—9.6% (2.5, 16.6) for angina pectoris and 20.1% (16.0, 24.2) for AMI at 1 year following law implementation. Assuming the law caused the observed declines, it prevented 1,880 hospitalizations and saved 7.7 million Euros in costs for this cohort during the year following law implementation. Conclusions Partial smoking restrictions in Germany were followed by reductions in hospitalization for angina pectoris and AMI, declines that continued through 1 year following these laws and resulted in substantial cost savings. Strengthening the laws could further reduce morbidity and costs from acute coronary syndromes in Germany. PMID:22350716

The IEA report takes an in-depth look at the energy challenges facing Germany, and through comparisons with good examples in other IEA countries, provides critiques and recommendations for policy improvements. The review guides the country towards a sustainable energy future. Few countries can have as great an impact on energy policy in Europe as Germany. Its large size and strategic location make it a critical component of the region's energy markets - as a result, sound energy policies and strong energy market design are a necessity. In these respects, Germany continues to make notable progress. The country has continued to reform its electricity and natural gas markets, set a timetable to phase out coal subsidies, is meeting key climate and environmental targets and is bringing energy, efficiency and environment to the top of the world agenda with its presidencies of both the G8 and European Union. The International Energy Agency (IEA) praises these efforts. Nevertheless, work remains to be done to further improve German energy policies and markets. The planned phase-out of nuclear power over the coming years would have major impacts on the country's energy mix, raising concerns about energy security, economic efficiency and environmental sustainability for the country and for Europe as a whole. Furthermore, though progress has been made, more needs to be done to set a truly level playing field for competition to develop in gas and electricity markets, which means effective unbundling of transport activities and a strongly empowered regulatory authority. Finally, the country's environmental policies, though helping meet ambitious goals, are expensive - and sometimes various policies work at cross-purposes. 22 figs., 27 tabs., 4 apps.

Clinical and epidemiological aspects of cats with cowpox in Germany from the years 2004 to 2010 are described and discussed. Questionnaires were sent to veterinarians and owners of affected cats identified with the help of a number of pathology laboratories. Of 69 mailed questionnaires, 45 veterinary and 26 owner questionnaires were returned and a total of 46 feline poxcases were evaluated. The cases were distributed all over Germany although there was an accumulation of cases in specific geographic areas. The clinical and epidemiological observations match those of other studies. The majority of cats were outdoor cats, came from a rural environment and developed clinical signs in late summer or autumn. All cats showed skin lesions which were predominantly localized on the anterior part of the body, 61% of the cats showed other clinical signs in addition to the skin lesions. Approximately half of the cats lived in a multi-pet household, but in only one case clinical signs typical for cowpox were observed in another cat of the household. In two cases a cat-to-human transmission was assumed. In addition, to evaluate the prevalence of pox virus infections in outdoor cats in areas with previous reports of such infections, 92 apparently unaffected outdoor cats were tested for orthopoxvirus antibodies using an indirect immunofluorescence assay. Sixteen (17%) of the tested serum samples were seropositive against orthopoxvirus (titre between 1:20 and 1:40).This is a higher serum prevalence than in previously published studies from Germany. A possible explanation is selection of a population of outdoor cats from regions with previous known clinical cases.

Full Text Available Abstract Background Little is known about the influencing potential of specific characteristics on lung function in different populations. The aim of this analysis was to determine whether lung function determinants differ between subpopulations within Germany and whether prediction equations developed for one subpopulation are also adequate for another subpopulation. Methods Within three studies (KORA C, SHIP-I, ECRHS-I in different areas of Germany 4059 adults performed lung function tests. The available data consisted of forced expiratory volume in one second, forced vital capacity and peak expiratory flow rate. For each study multivariate regression models were developed to predict lung function and Bland-Altman plots were established to evaluate the agreement between predicted and measured values. Results The final regression equations for FEV1 and FVC showed adjusted r-square values between 0.65 and 0.75, and for PEF they were between 0.46 and 0.61. In all studies gender, age, height and pack-years were significant determinants, each with a similar effect size. Regarding other predictors there were some, although not statistically significant, differences between the studies. Bland-Altman plots indicated that the regression models for each individual study adequately predict medium (i.e. normal but not extremely high or low lung function values in the whole study population. Conclusions Simple models with gender, age and height explain a substantial part of lung function variance whereas further determinants add less than 5% to the total explained r-squared, at least for FEV1 and FVC. Thus, for different adult subpopulations of Germany one simple model for each lung function measures is still sufficient.

Germany is experiencing various natural hazards and their impacts are expected to increase due to socio-economic and climatic changes, if an efficient risk management is not able to counteract. The international disaster database EM-DAT lists 79 events, namely earthquakes (3), extreme temperatures (9), floods (18), wet mass movement (1), storms (47) and wildfire (1) between 1950 and 2011; all together causing more than 10.000 fatalities and more than 40 billion US damage in Germany. The event with the highest human loss was the heat wave of 2003 with more than 9.000 fatalities. The event with the highest economic damage was the flood in 2002 causing €11.600 million damage. The aim of this paper is to offer a new perspective on multiple risk assessments in Germany by giving a systematic and comprehensive review on existing hazards and risk management strategies. Such a multiple risk assessment is particularly important because the potential for a natural event to cause a disaster depends on how vulnerable an exposed community is to such hazards. Human actions can reduce the damage to people and property but can at the same time increase the exposure to risks and exacerbate the impacts of hazardous events. To significantly improve risk management, i.e. decrease vulnerability and increase resilience of a region, more effort is needed than the well-established hazard-specific risk assessments. Planners and decision-makers need to be aware of and informed about all pertinent hazards in a region. Thus, to compare different hazards and to evaluate changes in risk, we propose the need of a consistent multi risk assessment.

In summer 2014 the CYprus Photochemistry EXperiment (CYPHEX) field campaign took place at an elevated (600m) measurement site in the north western part of Cyprus close (10 km) to the coast (35,96N, 32,4E) in order to investigate the photochemistry and air mass transport of the eastern Mediterranean. Non-methane hydrocarbons were measured with a commercial GC-FID (AMA instruments GmbH, Ulm, Germany) with a final dataset consisting of two weeks of continuous, hourly measurements for 10 NMHC. NMHCs are a class of volatile organic compounds (VOC) which are emitted by both anthropogenic and natural sources. Their predominant sink in the atmosphere is photochemically driven oxidation by OH radicals. Their atmospheric lifetimes, which range from a few days for more reactive compounds such as pentanes and butanes and up to a month for less reactive ones like ethane, make it possible to deduce photochemical histories and transport regimes from NMHC observations. Furthermore, in the presence of NOx they are important precursors for tropospheric ozone. Backward trajectories show that the airmasses reaching the measurement site had been influenced periodically by emissions from western continental Europe (France, Spain) that crossed the Mediterranean Sea and from eastern continental Europe (Greece and Turkey) more recently influenced by industrial emissions. Varying patterns in NMHC data delineates these two regimes very well, with aged western European air masses being characterized by low level ethane and with toluene and benzene being higher and more variable in plumes from eastern Europe. Additionally, atypical n-butane and i-butane ratios suggest a deviation from the expected predominant oxidation by OH, possibly indicating reaction with chlorine radicals (Cl). The dataset has been evaluated with respect to NMHC sources and oxidative history using different methods of approach.

Droughts are among the most costly natural disasters because they heavily impact on the economy of a region as well as on its social and cultural activities. Droughts do not only occur in arid or semiarid regions but also in humid ones. The year 2007, for example, was the sunniest, hottest and driest in Germany in the last two centuries. In this case, it was too dry too early. As a result, the harvest was cut by half leading to enormous losses in the primary sector. Consumer prices of some agricultural products went up 26 percent. The purpose of this study is to identify the major agricultural and hydrological droughts in Germany since 1950 based on their severity, duration and areal extend. To achieve this goal, a 60-yr retrospective hydrological simulation of the land surface water budget over Germany was carried out with the process-based distributed hydrological model mHM. The model was forced with grided daily precipitation and temperature data at 4x4 km, and the model simulations were carried out at same spatial resolutions. Point measurement data from more than 5600 raingauges and about 1120 meteorological stations (DWD) were interpolated with EDK. Land cover change was also considered during this period. Drought indices were derived as monthly quantiles of the simulated fluxes which include root zone soil moisture and total runoff. A Gaussian kernel smoother was used to estimate these quantiles at each grid cell. A spatio-temporal cluster algorithm was used to consolidate all significant drought events. Main statistics such as magnitude, areal extend, duration, and severity were estimated only on those selected clusters. The mHM model was calibrated in major river basins giving Nash-Sutcliffe efficiencies for daily discharge simulations greater than 0.8 in the evaluation period. Plausibility tests between the simulated mHM soil moisture and land surface temperature from MODIS and regional climate model reanalysis data compared well. Results indicated that

There are various developments and inventions from Germany that have influenced not only the domestic but also the international field of ophthalmology. Beginning with the invention of the ophthalmoscope by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1850, to the establishment of the "Archives of Ophthalmology" medical journal, a publication founded by Albrecht von Graefe in 1854, through to the development of the retinal chip by Eberhart Zrenner and colleagues with the first clinical data collected in 2007. The abovenamed and further developments and the German ophthalmologists behind these inventions are discussed in more detail.

In its 2009 report the Federal Advisory Council on the Assessment of Developments in the Health Care System developed a model of Primary Care Practices for future general practice-based primary care. This article presents the theoretical background of the model. Primary care practices are seen as developed organisations requiring changes at all system levels (interaction, organisation, and health system) to ensure sustainability of primary care functions in the future. Developments of the elements comprising the health care system may be compared to the developments and proposals observed in other countries. In Germany, however, the pace of these developments is relatively slow.

Full Text Available In the field of online shopping, new developments can be identified; e.g. the allowance of product returns (management of product returns and the ordering and delivery of products from an Internet retailer in the same day (same-day delivery. Our contribution provides a brief overview of these developments (i.e. major trends and of the advanced e-commerce market (in Germany. Additionally, an empirical investigation of German online shoppers will be used to describe these shoppers as a whole and to classify them into groups with similar purchasing behavior. Our paper will support the selection and addressing of proper target groups.

Full Text Available This study starts from a recognition that the German police have a significant potential to promote integration in contemporary multiethnic Germany. It employs three measures of Islamophobic attitudes and contact quality amongst a sample of 727 German police officers, and relates these to measures of job satisfaction, political affiliation, individual responsibility, and recognition. The data reveal Islamophobia to be significantly linked to these variables. Detailed analyses indicate that the respondents’ experience of policing may produce levels of dissatisfaction that impacts upon their outgroup attitudes. The implications of this for initiatives to promote police-Muslim relations are explored.

People adopt a vegetarian diet for various reasons. A largely plant-based diet not only has advantages for health, it also has positive social and environmental aspects. The aim of this analysis is to provide a description of the people in Germany who follow a predominantly vegetarian diet and to compare their food consumption with those of nonvegetarians. As part of DEGS 1 (2008–2011), a validated questionnaire was used within a representative sample of 6,933 persons aged 18 to 79 to stu...

Mycoses of the skin are extremely frequent. The clinical presentation often resembles the one of other frequent inflammatory skin diseases not caused by fungi. Adequate diagnostics are critical for the establishment of proper treatment. A total quality management system has been devised in Germany during the last 5 years. There are several guidelines addressing various aspects of the management of various types of disease as well as structure quality of laboratory diagnostics. Continuous medical education and so-called ring trials are major aspects of implementation.

23 Stock Exchanges were in operation in Germany in 1913. We provide new data about the number of listed firms, their market value, and the number of IPOs between 1897 and 1913 for all exchanges. We assess reasons why a firm opts to be listed at a certain exchange. Large firms tend to be listed and tend to go public at the Berlin Stock Exchange, while the regional stock exchanges were important hosts for small and medium-sized firms. Borders and distance affect listing decisions, suggesting th...

In June 2015, a 45-year-old man suffering from acute necrotic tonsillitis and throat phlegmon was hospitalized in Nuremberg, Germany. After emergency surgery the patient was initially treated with antibiotics. A throat swab grew a toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae biovar mitis strain. The patient's vaccination status was not documented and the patient was tested serologically for anti-diphtheria antibodies showing no protective immunity. Extensive control investigations were performed by the local health department showing no likely source of his infection. No secondary cases were found and the patient completely recovered.

The emigration of mathematicians from Europe during the Nazi era signaled an irrevocable and important historical shift for the international mathematics world. Mathematicians Fleeing from Nazi Germany is the first thoroughly documented account of this exodus. In this greatly expanded translation of the 1998 German edition, Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze describes the flight of more than 140 mathematicians, their reasons for leaving, the political and economic issues involved, the reception of these emigrants by various countries, and the emigrants' continuing contributions to mathematics. The inf

Full Text Available In the summer 1945, Displaced Persons camps in Germany epitomized a place of contrasts and paradoxes. DPs still languished behind barbed wires after the Allied armies had liberated the concentration camps. The military had assumed that practically all of the Displaced Persons would be sent to their countries of origin. In the spring and summer 1945, 65 000 DPs were sent back home every day and almost six million were repatriated in September 1945. Accurate statistics are impossible, yet, acco...

In Germany gymnastics and sport had formed alliances with medical "sciences" as early as the 18th century. At the end of the 19th century, the rise of sport provoked heated debates among physicians about the benefits and the dangers of sporting activities. After World War I, sport became a fashion and a mass movement that increasingly attracted the interest of the medical profession. Doctors organized congresses and founded a professional organization and journal. Using theoretical approaches to professionalization, the efforts of "sport physicians" to gain professional status (and the resources and power connected with it) will be analyzed and interpreted.

In this article we measure the effects of events on risk and return and analyze the persistence of the influencing variables on German energy companies. Therefore, we refer to event-study methods by means of the Capital Asset Pricing Model, GARCH-Modeling and Kalman filters. We find that the discussed events do not affect all companies in an equal manner. Moreover, we show that the impact on risk and returns is not persistent and does not lead to an increase in the overall systematic risk for the considered utility operators in Germany. (orig.)

and region. But temps already suffer from a marked wage decline before entering the temporary help sector. Nevertheless, temporary agency employment does not leave a long lasting scar. Three quarters after leaving the sector, temps no longer suffer from a wage penalty. A recent change in the law set a high......As a consequence of the rapid growth of temporary agency employment in Germany, the debate on the poor working conditions of temps, specifically their remuneration, has intensified recently. The paper shows that the wage gap for German temp workers is rather large and varies between occupation...

We present seismic images of the upper mantle below the Quaternary Eifel volcanic fields, Germany, determined by teleseismic travel time tomography. The data were measured at a dedicated network of more than 200 stations. Our results show a columnar low P-velocity anomaly in the upper mantle with a lateral contrast of up to 2%. The 100 km wide structure extends to at least 400 km depth and is equivalent to about 150–200 K excess temperature. This clear evidence for a plume below a region of c...

Steel Community (ECSC)—the precursor of the European Union. The Schumann Plan was able to link the key industrial bases of a war economy with France...providing both a measure of security for France and a vital industrial market for Germany. The importance of the Schumann Plan was beyond economics...Germany, Oscar Lafontaine, made a comment “that to ask Germany to send troops to the Gulf would be like offering brandied chocolate to a recovering

WORLD WAR II: FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY ....................37 A. THE MORGENTHAU PLAN AND THE MARSHALL PLAN ...............39 B. WEST GERMAN...London: Routledge, 1990), 176. 137 Hardach, The Political Economy of Germany in the Twentieth Century, 142. 39 A. THE MORGENTHAU PLAN AND THE...although attempts to do just that occurred through plans such as the Morgenthau Plan. The plan set the standard of living in Germany back to the

An initiative to develop a concerted national programme for the digitization of medieval manuscripts in Germany was launched by five German manuscript centres in January 2013. This new proposal aims at the development of a master plan for the digitization of nearly all surviving medieval manuscripts in Germany and at the establishment of a new funding programme of the DFG (German Research Foundation), the largest research funding organization in Germany.Besides this fundamental financial aspe...

Report - Germany is the lead market for the global PV industry During the past years, Germany witnessed a remarkable boom in solar photovoltaic (PV) installations. Favorable regulatory frameworks as well as a maturing global PV industry, offering continuously lower prices, were just two of the main drivers leading to the industry's expansion. Though, an increasing inflow of capital was another necessary factor for this development. Monitoring the new capacity installations in Germany reve...

In Germany, immigrants from Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries represent one of the largest immigrant groups. Some FSU countries face the highest HIV prevalence in the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. However, the HIV knowledge, attitude and behavioral intent have not been investigated in FSU immigrants compared to the native population yet. A cross-sectional anonymous survey among 1,205 FSU immigrants and 435 native Germans (aged 18-65 years) in Bavaria. Data analysis from the participating 435 (36 %) immigrants and 334 (76.8 %) natives showed that the immigrants were less knowledgeable (p immigrants would request a test; in case of a confirmed HIV diagnosis fewer would use a condom or inform their sexual partner(s). This first comparative study indicates an urgent need for HIV/AIDS education among FSU immigrants.

In Germany power supply companies have been required to offer smart meters for new buildings since 1 January 2010. Smart grid activities in Germany are organised under the roof of a promotion campaign named ''E-energy - IKT (information and communication) based energy system of the future'' which is dedicated to the motto ''smart grids made in Germany''. But what does this mean in relation to other regions, and where does Germany stand in the development of smart grids compared with other countries?.

Serum samples and tracheal cultures were collected from eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo sylvestris) trapped for relocation in South Carolina (USA) during 1985 to 1990. Sera were tested for Mycoplasma gallisepticum and M. synoviae by the rapid plate agglutination and hemagglutination inhibition tests and were found to be negative. Tracheal cultures were negative for all pathogenic Mycoplasma spp., including M. gallisepticum, M. synoviae, M. meleagridis, and M. iowae. However, M. gallopavonis was isolated from every group of wild turkeys tested in 1986 to 1990. These data suggest that M. gallopavonis, which is generally considered nonpathogenic, may be a common microorganism in eastern wild turkeys.

The potential natural vegetation (PNV) map of eastern and southern Africa covers the countries Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia. The first version of the map was developed by various partners in East Africa and Europe in 2010 and has now reached version 2. The map...... for the right place' and potential distribution maps of the useful woody species that occur in eastern Africa. To navigate this site, please use the menu on the left. For the latest news and updates, check out our Google+ page. And if you want to contact us for questions, comments or any other reason, please...

Multimodal Pain Management is a comprehensive treatment of complex chronic pain syndromes. In addition to medical therapy various other specialized therapeutical interventions based on the biopsychosocial model of pain origin and chronic pain development are added.Medical indications are given for patients with chronic pain syndromes, but also if there is an elevated risk of chronic pain in the early stadium of the disease and aiming at delaying the process of chronification. Multimodal pain management has been included in the official catalogue of the recognized medical procedure for day clinic units as well as for inpatients pain management. As there is still a lack of clarity and of consistency about the implementation of multimodal pain management the ad-hoc-Kommission on multimodal interdisciplinary pain management of the German Pain Society has proposed a position paper that has been worked out in a multilevel and interdisciplinary consensus process. Moreover a basic tool for documentation and quality management of pain therapy was developed by the German Pain Society (KEDOQ-Schmerz) as the data basis for nationwide, cross-sectional and independent scientific research in health services in Germany. In future KEDOQ-Schmerz will also used as a method for external quality management in chronic pain therapy in Germany.

Today we are once again in the middle of a new industrial and energy technology revolution. From a technology point of view, it is even a huge positive, as it opens up new markets for new and more energy and natural efficient solutions. Under this aspect, the paper under considerations consists of the following contributions: (a) From grassroots movement to political power; (b) Constructive experimentation; (c) Degrees for a green future (German universities offer a wide variety of courses in renewable energy); (d) Climbing the green career ladder (Diverse career opportunities in the renewable energy sector); (e) Natural power plants: Energy you can count on (German researchers successfully focus on the sun's energy); (f) Concentrated energy from the ocean (Dynamic development of wind energy in Germany); (g) Powerful waves and extraordinary treasures (German water experts are in demand all over the world); (h) Designer diesel and deep heat (Germany leads the fields in biofuels); (i) Sending the right signals (Climate protection as an opportunity for change); (k) Car today, bike tomorrow (Environmental psychologist Ellen Matthies); (l) The secret lies under the Bonnet (Hybrid technology paves the way for ''clean'' buses and trains); (m) Pioneering the ''silent'' car (Researchers put their foot on the accelerator for electromobility); (n) The school of the future (Students at RWTH Aachen University design an energy project for the classroom).

There are only a few older sources of Sudetic larch in Germany. They distinguish themselves by outstanding growth and low susceptibility to canker. This impression was confirmed by results of provenance research. The Sudetic larch tested in comparison with numerous other provenances proved to be fast-growing, site-tolerant, to a large extent insusceptible to canker, with straight but also slightly to moderately curved stems. The Sudetic provenances behave remarkably uniformly as regards these characteristics. In addition to provenance research investigations have been going on for a long time in Germany into individual differences within the Sudetic larch populations. A report is given on the results of progeny tests from free and controlled pollination, using the example of a seed orchard consisting of 54 clones. We point also to possibilities for improving stem quality by selection steps. The results of provenance and progeny research on Sudetic larch are in the meantime being put to use to a large extent in practical forestry. The forest administrations of various federal lands recommend the use of reproductive material of Sudetic origin and from seed orchards. 20 refs, 3 figs

In Germany health policy-makers of all parties believe in competition as an incentive for creating innovation and to keep costs down. Sickness funds cover about 90% of the population=regulated market/10% are covered by health insurance plans=private market. The sickness funds in the regulated market have the same premium (this goes to a national agency and is distributed to the funds after a risk adjusted scheme that uses morbidity trees to develop a fair payment to the funds) but vary whether they have to ask for a separately paid surplus premium. Sickness funds compete about surplus premiums, services and offers to the patients and about selection (healthy vs. sick). They have to ask: What are the strongest interventions in increasing health status and keeping costs down?Who is offering a comprehensive and sustainable solution serving my population?With what kind of reimbursement scheme do I attract the right spirit … not too much interventions, but not too few as well …. tackling the right people … using the newest technology, but with as few costs as possible? For more information on integrated care in Germany, please follow the link to the power point presentation below.

Depression in old age is common. Only few studies, exclusively conducted in the USA, have examined the impact of depression on direct costs in the elderly (60+). This study aims to determine the effect of depression on direct costs of the advanced elderly in Germany from a societal perspective. 451 primary care patients aged 75+ were investigated face-to-face regarding depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale), chronic medical illness (Chronic Disease Score) and resource utilisation and costs (cost diary). Resource utilisation was monetarily valued using 2004/2005 prices. Mean annual direct costs of the depressed (euro5241) exceeded mean costs of non-depressed individuals (euro3648) by one third (pdentures, and for home care. Only few costs were caused by depression treatment. Depression has a significant impact on direct costs after controlling for age, gender, education, chronic medical illness and cognitive functions. A one-point increase in the GDS-Score was associated with a euro336 increase in the annual direct costs. Reported costs can be considered as rather conservative estimates. There were no nursing home residents and no patients with dementia disorders in the sample. Furthermore, recall bias cannot be ruled out completely. Depression in old age is associated with a significant increase of direct costs, even after adjustment for chronic medical illness. Future demographic changes in Germany will lead to an increase in the burden of old age depression. Therefore health policy should promote the development and use of cost-effective treatment strategies.

In Germany, orthopedic workforce planning relies on population-to-provider-ratios represented by the 'official degree of care provision'. However, with geographic information systems (GIS), more sophisticated measurements are available. By utilizing GIS-based technologies we analyzed the current state of demand and supply of the orthopedic workforce in Germany (orthopedic accessibility) with the integrated Floating Catchment Area method. The analysis of n = 153,352,220 distances revealed significant geographical variations on national scale: 5,617,595 people (6.9% of total population) lived in an area with significant low orthopedic accessibility (average z-score = -4.0), whereas 31,748,161 people (39.0% of total population) lived in an area with significant high orthopedic accessibility (average z-score = 8.0). Accessibility was positively correlated with the degree of urbanization (r = 0.49; p<0.001) and the official degree of care provision (r = 0.33; p<0.001) and negatively correlated with regional social deprivation (r = -0.47; p<0.001). Despite advantages of simpler measures regarding implementation and acceptance in health policy, more sophisticated measures of accessibility have the potential to reduce costs as well as improve health care. With this study, significant geographical variations were revealed that show the need to reduce oversupply in less deprived urban areas in order to enable adequate care in more deprived rural areas.

The use of renewable energy for the continuously growing global population is becoming increasingly important. These forms of energy not only broaden the urgently needed resource base, but are also free from emission of CO{sub 2}, SO{sub 2}, NO{sub x} etc. The Federal German Government early recognized this and has provided more than DEM 4000 million for this purpose since 1973. Together with Japan and the USA, Germany belongs to the three leading nations in the world in R and D on the application of renewable energy. It has by far the largest and most broadly based programme in Europe. The technical and economical progress of wind power is very promising in Germany. It has scale demonstration programme `250 MW Wind`. Since 1991 another important impetus has been the sources (wind power presently 0.1728 DEM/kWh). In 1994, the rated wind power capacity was doubled to 643 MW. Electricity production in 1994 was around 1000 million kWh or 0.2 % of total German electricity production. The often discussed goal of producing one or more per cent of the German electricity by wind power seems to be attainable on a medium time scale by modern medium scale wind turbines or even large scale turbines. This is based on the promise that various nontechnical barriers will be overcome. (author)

In this paper individual patterns of gambling in Germany are estimated for the first time. The probit technique is used to test the influence of a set of individual characteristics on the probability of participating in each of the various legal games. A sample size of 1,586 adults collected for the pool of German lotteries provides a reliable set of data. All disaggregated estimations of participation are statistically significant at least at the 5 percent level. The basic findings suggest that gambling is a widespread normal (superior) consumption good because gambling participation tends to rise with income. Moreover, no demand anomaly can be found to justify assessing gambling as a social demerit. Only the participation in gaming machines is higher for younger, unemployed and less educated adults. While a moral evaluation of gambling is beyond the scope of this paper, the legislator's preference for a highly taxed state monopoly in gambling markets is to be rejected, at least for Germany. Additional statistical findings suggest distinct consumer perceptions of the characteristics of the various games and may be used for market segmentation. The paper starts with a descriptive introduction to the German gambling market.

In liberalized electricity markets, suppliers are offering several kinds of voluntary green electricity products marketed as environmentally friendly. This paper focuses on the development of these voluntary markets at household level in the UK, Germany and Finland. Since there are already existing renewable energy policies regulating and encouraging the use of renewable energy, it is important to consider whether voluntary products offer real additional benefits above these policies. Problems such as double counting or re-marketing hydropower produced in existing plants are identified. According to our study, the demand varies between countries: in Germany the number of green electricity customers has increased and is also higher than in the UK or Finland. Typically the average additional cost to consumer from buying green electricity product instead of standard electricity product is in the range of 0-5% in all studied countries, although the level of price premium depends on several factors like electricity consumption. Case study of Finland and literature show that the impacts of green energy are not solely environmental. Renewable energy can benefit local public policy.

Full Text Available In this study strengths and weaknesses of financing hospitals in the German health care sector are examined. In the first part of the paper key data of hospitals, subsidies granted by federal states to hospitals, allocation of expenses in the statutory and private health sector are examined. Moreover, in the same part precautions taken in the German health care industry are analyzed. In the second part of the study compensation system, in particular Diagnosis Related Groups, as a financial resource for the activities performed in hospitals are investigated. For comparison the system before 2003 is also considered. In the third part critical view of the dual system in Germany is discussed. Change in financing of hospitals from 2003 shows improvement in financial situation of these institutions in Germany. However, the new implemented dual system reveals deficits in investment expenditures supported by federal states. The monistic model proposed by Rürup for a financing system from a single resource may provide a better financial base for well-equipped hospitals to meet the challenges among the competitive German hospitals.

Urology is affected by the demographic development in Germany more than any other medical discipline. Despite a relatively stable total population, by the year 2040 there will be an absolute and relevant increase in urological diseases caused only by the demographic development in the population. This is particularly true for the increase in oncological treatment just in the field of the discipline of urology. Even now the current numbers for tumor development in Germany (RKI 2014) in the urological oncology segment of all tumor diseases show an increasing trend with more than 23 %. This significant increase in performance is in contrast to the age development of the specialists in this discipline. In total but especially due to the significantly over-aged specialist medical profession in urology, this leads to a substantial bottleneck of specialists in the discipline of urology. This deficiency of personnel resources in urology is aggravated by the requirements of Generation Y for a well-adjusted work-life balance and the associated feminization of the medical profession. This requires intelligent strategies for.

Full Text Available Learning has come to the front position of the educational agenda in many countries of the world – the knowledge society, learning society, learning organization and so forth are the common terms now in the 21st century. The terms come into view in countless publications of the European Union and of many other countries in and outside the European Community. The learning society is one of the products of globalisation and knowledge, learning and education are intertwined with global capitalism. Education is considered as a servant to global capitalism, enabling trans-boundary companies to gather more effectively in the knowledge society. Learning has become to a central task in governmental education policy in many countries and it is being treated as investment – adding value to human and social capital, resulting in employability and then in work, which makes an even greater distribution to the economy, rather than being treated as a natural human process that results in the improvement of people as human beings. Profound changes are taking place as a result of globalisation that is affecting the whole of the educational institution. The objective of this contribution is to present Germany on its way to a knowledge society by examining the past and the present situation of Germany concerning mobility and furthermore mobility programs.

On 26 November 2000, the first autochthonous case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was detected in Germany. Since then, a total of 413 BSE cases have been confirmed, resulting in the culling and destruction of 17 313 heads of cattle. In view of the possible risks for human and animal health, Germany has adopted EU regulations along with some additional requirements concerning active surveillance and response measures after detecting a BSE-positive animal. In this study, we used a stochastic model to estimate the costs incurred by the ensuing legislative amendments responding to BSE between November 2000 and December 2010. The total costs were estimated to range between 1847 and 2094 million Euros. They peaked in 2001 (about 394 million Euros) and declined since. About 54% of the costs (approximately 1000 million Euros) were incurred by the extension of the feed ban for animal protein to all farmed livestock. Active surveillance accounted for 21% (405 million Euros), the incineration of animal protein for 13% (249 million Euros) and the removal of specified risk material for 11% (225 million Euros). Only 1% of the costs was related to response measures after detecting a BSE-positive animal, including indemnity payments for culled cattle and confiscated carcasses at the slaughterhouse.

Full Text Available The European eHealth Trends project analyses the attitudes towards and usage of eHealth applications of European citizens in the time frame 2005–2007. In April/May 2007 the second series of representative stratified surveys with computer-based telephone interviews (CATI (in Germany based on the German ADM Master Sample were performed by a poll agency in seven European countries. Here we report the major results for the German population, were 1000 participants with an age between 15 and 80 years were interviewed. For the general use of the Internet for health purposes as well as the established eHealth Internet use (at least once a month we report a significant increase (from 44.4% to 56.6% and from 22.5% to 32.0%. Further, the percentage of Germans who consider the Internet as an important medium for health purposes increased from 33.7% to 36.8%. In Bavaria, the percentage of established eHealth Internet users was lowest among the German states. The results of our eHealth Trends survey in Germany show a considerable increase of eHealth use within the last 18 months. German physicians need to be prepared for an increasing number of empowered patients, who have searched for information on their health problems in the Internet, but will also demand more enhanced services.

Full Text Available Nations with a predominantly ethno-cultural self-perception and citizenship based on jus sanguinis are under pressure today to adopt more civic-territorial ideas of nationhood, including elements of jus soli. Two nations experiencing these trends in Europe but have rarely been juxtaposed are Greece and Germany. Characteristic of both nations is a long reserved privileged access to citizenship and settlement assistance for co-ethnic immigrants from Eastern Europe and recently the Former Soviet Union. This article argues that changes to the way these privileged immigrant groups and their settlement are addressed should also reflect changes to the national idiom. The paper contrasts Greece to Germany and finds that, similarly to developments in its northern counterpart, Greek repatriates from the Former Soviet Union have been an important consequence of the ethno-cultural idiom and reinforced it at times. In the new millennium these immigrants’ importance is diminishing in reality, if not on paper. The article concludes that in spite of this and the citizenship reform of 2010, the tendency to see the country as a culturally homogeneous nation is still fairly strong in Greece. The analysis draws on interviews with ‘repatriates’ in both countries and with national policy-makers in Greece, as well as on newspaper clippings, opinion polls and statistical data, complemented by leading scholarship in the field to date.

Full Text Available The conflict in eastern Congo has been the most deadly one since the second World War, and its social consequences have been disastrous. Solutions to the conflict – which has its roots in politics, in demographics and in economics – must look to the long term.

Explores communication behaviors and reactions of employees during crisis periods, using a qualitative case study of Eastern Airlines pilots. Finds that useful theories for crisis communication can be developed only after sufficient inquiry into the communication needs and behaviors of message receivers. (MS)

Accurate estimates of the flexural properties of pallet parts are critical to the safe, yet efficient, design of wood pallets. To develop more accurate data for hardwood pallet parts, 840 stringers and 2,520 deckboards, representing 14 hardwood species, were sampled from 35 mills distributed throughout the Eastern United States. The parts were sorted by species,...

Reviews changes in higher education in Eastern Europe since the fall of communism and finds less than expected change, although enrollment has increased and there is minimal government interference. Obstacles to change include lack of quality controls, falling financial support, and emigration of scholars to other countries or business fields. (DB)

Successful regeneration of eastern hemlock involves a complex biophysical process that commonly spans many years. Critical factors include a reliable source of seed, a suitable seedbed, a partially shaded environment, and several years of favorable moisture. Surface scarification appears critical as a means of site preparation. Even then, young hemlocks grow slowly,...

The paper gives an overview of EU's eastern enlargement and draws some theoretical conclusions. In particular, it stresses the point that the EU member states in the process of enlargement have entered a phase of "new politics", characterised by multilateralism, conditionality, help and binding a...

We present the emerging panorama of Astroparticle Physics at the Eastern Colombia region, and describe several ongoing projects, most of them related to the Latin American Giant Observatory (LAGO) Project. This research work is carried out at the Grupo de Investigaciones en Relatividad y Gravitacin of Universidad Industrial de Santander.

Full Text Available Problem statement: The fast invasion of eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana L. has been considered a significant problem to the environment and rural communities. Approach: This study examined the adverse ecological and economic impacts of eastern redcedar and proposed the sustainable development of value-added panel products from such under-utilized invasive species. Also what economic sectors were mostly influenced was examined. Additionally experimental panels were manufactured from low quality eastern redcedar trees. Results: Both physical and mechanical characteristics of experimental panels were found to be satisfactory and comparable to those of typical commercial panels made from other species. It appears that average modulus of elasticity value of the samples with two density levels had 9% higher than that of a typical commercially produced panels. Conclusion: The importance of this study is expansion of the use of low quality eastern redcedar in value-added composite panel manufacture which seems an alternative solution in the development of an environmentally sound and economically effective way to utilize such resource.

Anemia is one of the most common public health problems in developing countries like Nepal. This study was done to find the prevalence of anemia among the children aged 4-13 years in eastern Nepal. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2012 in four districts (Morang, Udayapur, Bhojpur and Ilam) of eastern Nepal to find the prevalence of anemia among the school children of eastern Nepal. Children aged 4-13 years were selected randomly from different schools of above districts and 618 venous blood samples were collected. Hemoglobin level was estimated by using cyanmethemoglobin method. The mean hemoglobin level was 12.2 ± 1.82 gm/dl. About 37.9% (n = 234) children were found anemic. Anemia prevalence was 42.4% (n = 78), 31.6% (n = 60), 45.3% (n = 48) and 34.8% (n = 48) among school children of Morang, Udayapur, Bhojpur and Ilam district, respectively. The study finds anemia as a significant health problem among the school children of eastern Nepal.

The commercial Spanish courses at Eastern Michigan University, examinations in commercial Spanish, and cooperative education exchange programs are described, and the university's new programs that combine the study of foreign language and business are briefly addressed. A six-course sequence offered on the junior, senior, and graduate levels cover…

Fragmentation is a continuing threat to the sustainability of forests in the Eastern United States, where land use changes supporting a growing human population are the primary driver of forest fragmentation (Stein and others 2009). While once mostly forested, approximately 40 percent of the original forest area has been converted to other land uses, and most of the...

Full Text Available Being able to manage and adjust insulin doses is a key part of managing type-1 diabetes. Children and adolescents with type-1 diabetes mellitus often have serious difficulties with this dosage adjustment. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the impact of using novel mobile, web and communication technologies in assisting their therapy and treatment. A trial was conducted in the north-eastern part of Germany to evaluate the impact of the “Mobil Diab”, a mobile diabetes management system, on the clinical outcome. 68 subjects aged between 8 and 18 years, divided randomly into control and intervention groups, were included into the study. Metrics such as changes in the quality of metabolic control, changes in psychological parameters, usability and acceptance of the technology were used for evaluation purpose. Metabolic control was mainly assessed by the mean HbAlc. Analysis showed a good acceptance of the proposed system. An overall improvement in mean levels of HbA1c was observed, however further studies will be conducted to prove evidence of the weight and BMI improvements. Moreover, initial indications of positive impact on the improvement in psychological parameters were presumed based on the result of the conducted study. The system appeared to be an efficient and time saving tool in diabetes management.

Being able to manage and adjust insulin doses is a key part of managing type-1 diabetes. Children and adolescents with type-1 diabetes mellitus often have serious difficulties with this dosage adjustment. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the impact of using novel mobile, web and communication technologies in assisting their therapy and treatment. A trial was conducted in the north-eastern part of Germany to evaluate the impact of the "Mobil Diab", a mobile diabetes management system, on the clinical outcome. 68 subjects aged between 8 and 18 years, divided randomly into control and intervention groups, were included into the study. Metrics such as changes in the quality of metabolic control, changes in psychological parameters, usability and acceptance of the technology were used for evaluation purpose. Metabolic control was mainly assessed by the mean HbAlc. Analysis showed a good acceptance of the proposed system. An overall improvement in mean levels of HbA1c was observed, however further studies will be conducted to prove evidence of the weight and BMI improvements. Moreover, initial indications of positive impact on the improvement in psychological parameters were presumed based on the result of the conducted study. The system appeared to be an efficient and time saving tool in diabetes management.

Full Text Available The paper presents empirical studies on the appreciation of nature and landscape in the Eastern Ore Mountains (Saxony, Germany by tourism service providers (TSP and visitors. Attractive landscape and experience of nature are the most important reasons to visit this region and to spend leisure time there. Particularly mountain meadows, raised bogs and mixed forests are highly appreciated. Deforestation, industrial development and the decline of biodiversity would reduce attractiveness for visitors. We also assessed whether the tourism sector is prepared to contribute to the funding of nature conservation and landscape management. Use of general tax revenues is favoured, but other modes would also be accepted, e.g. a nature tax. Willingness to pay (WTP is ranging between €0.75 and €1.36 per guest per night by TSP, or between €1.06 and €2.73 per day by visitors. With respect to landscape preference and WTP we found in some cases significant differences among visitors, depending on region of residence, age and education level. A major part of the annual costs for nature conservation and landscape could be covered by public funds (taxes, if the results of the WTP approach were understood as a sign of societal demand and a call to action.

For globally sustainable development to be achieved, three concerns are central: productive economic growth, social justice and ecological sustainability. Development co-operation supports the realisation of these three goals in partner countries by helping to alleviate poverty, promote economic growth through private-sector development and protect vital natural resources. The aim of globally sustainable development can only be achieved if industrial countries too implement necessary reforms and structural adjustments at every level. Co-operation efforts with partners must therefore be complemented by coherent policies at home. This is a matter of credibility, but also of developmental far-sightedness. Internal reforms in the industrial countries secure financial leeway for their providing foreign assistance in the longer term. Environmental and resource protection as a focal point of Germany`s development co-operation with the PRC aims to preserve vital natural resources, shape economic development in their partner countries in an ecologically sound manner and put China in a position to participate in global endeavours to protect the environment. Climate protection measures figure prominently in this area. This is justified given China`s share of global CO{sub 2} emissions and the potential for energy-saving measures and measures to increase power intensity. This potential is derived primarily from the possibility of using energy-efficient technologies, increasing the relatively low energy prices and making use of renewable sources of energy.

This special issue of Fire Ecology is focused on the fire ecology of eastern USA oak (Quercus L.) forests, woodlands, and savannas. The papers were presented as part of the Fifth Fire in Eastern Oak Forests Conference in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA, in 2015. The topic of fire in eastern oak ecosystems is one that has received insufficient interest from the...

Full Text Available Phylogeographic studies around the world have identified refugia where fauna were able to persist during unsuitable climatic periods, particularly during times of glaciation. In Australia the effects of Pleistocene climate oscillations on rainforest taxa have been well studied but less is known about the effects on mesic-habitat fauna, such as the eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus. The eastern grey kangaroo is a large mammal that is common and widespread throughout eastern Australia, preferring dry mesic habitat, rather than rainforest. As pollen evidence suggests that the central-eastern part of Australia (southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales experienced cycles of expansion in mesic habitat with contraction in rainforests, and vice versa during glacial and interglacial periods, respectively, we hypothesise that the distribution of the eastern grey kangaroo was affected by these climate oscillations and may have contracted to mesic habitat refugia. From 375 mitochondrial DNA control region sequences from across the distribution of eastern grey kangaroos we obtained 108 unique haplotypes. Phylogenetic analysis identified two clades in Queensland, one of which is newly identified and restricted to a small coastal region in southern Queensland north of Brisbane, known as the Sunshine Coast. The relatively limited geographic range of this genetically isolated clade suggests the possibility of a mesic habitat refugium forming during rainforest expansion during wetter climate cycles. Other potential, although less likely, reasons for the genetic isolation of the highly distinct clade include geographic barriers, separate northward expansions, and strong local adaptation.

Full Text Available A large ensemble of 24 bias-corrected and uncorrected regional climate model (RCM simulations is used to investigate climate change impacts on water supply patterns over Germany using the seasonal winter and summer Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI based on 6-month precipitation sums. The climate change signal is studied comparing SPI characteristics for the reference period 1971–2000 with those of the "near" (2036–2065 and the "far" (2071–2100 future. The spread of the climate change signal within the simulation ensemble of bias-corrected versus non-corrected data is discussed. Ensemble scenarios are evaluated against available observation-based data over the reference period 1971–2000. After correcting the model biases, the model ensemble underestimates the variability of the precipitation climatology in the reference period, but replicates the mean characteristics. Projections of water supply patterns based on the SPI for the time periods 2036–2065 and 2071–2100 show wetter winter months during both future time periods. As a result soil drying may be delayed to late spring extending into the summer period, which could have an important effect on sensible heat fluxes. While projections indicate wetting in summer during 2036–2065, drier summers are estimated towards the south-west of Germany for the end of the 21st century. The use of the bias correction intensifies the signal to wetter conditions for both seasons and time periods. The spread in the projection of future water supply patterns between the ensemble members is explored, resulting in high spatial differences that suggest a higher uncertainty of the climate change signal in the southern part of Germany. It is shown that the spread of the climate change signals between SPIs based on single ensemble members is twice as large as the difference between the mean climate change signal of SPIs based on bias-corrected and uncorrected precipitation. This implies that the

In several regions of Central Europe, such as southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and northern Italy, hailstorms often cause substantial damage to buildings, crops, or automobiles on the order of several million EUR. In the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, for example, most of the insured damage to buildings is caused by large hailstones. Due to both their local-scale extent and insufficient direct monitoring systems, hail swaths are not captured accurately and uniquely by a single observation system. Remote-sensing systems such as radars are able to detect convection signals in a basic way, but they lack the ability to discern a clear relation between measured intensity and hail on the ground. These shortcomings hamper statistical analysis on the hail probability and intensity. Hail modelling thus is a big challenge for the insurance industry. Within the project HARIS-CC (Hail Risk and Climate Change), different meteorological observations are combined (3D / 2D radar, lightning, satellite and radiosounding data) to obtain a comprehensive picture of the hail climatology over Germany. The various approaches were tested and calibrated with loss data from different insurance companies between 2005 and 2011. Best results are obtained by considering the vertical distance between the 0°C level of the atmosphere and the echo top height estimated from 3D reflectivity data from the radar network of German Weather Service (DWD). Additionally, frequency, intensity, width, and length of hail swaths are determined by applying a cell tracking algorithm to the 3D radar data (TRACE3D; Handwerker, 2002). The hailstorm tracks identified are merged with loss data using a geographical information system (GIS) to verify damage-causing hail on the ground. Evaluating the hailstorm climatology revealed that hail probability exhibits high spatial variability even over short distances. An important issue is the spatial pattern of hail occurrence that is considered to be due to

Several research groups from different European countries have worked on the aetiopathogenesis of bovine neonatal pancytopenia (BNP) and an association between the use of the vaccine PregSure BVD (Pfizer, Germany) and the development of this haemorrhagic disease was confirmed. Because BNP is not a notifiable disease, it is difficult to obtain information on its incidence. Based on pharmacovigilance (PhV) data, which are the only officially available data at the national level, the incidence of BNP is considered low. However, voluntary reporting of the disease can lead to underreporting. To gain more insight into the incidence of BNP among the affected herds, an epidemiological study was performed, which focused on 243 farms in Germany with cases of BNP. Farmers were asked to report the occurrence of BNP, including the number of cases, which allowed calculation of incidence in the affected herds. Matching such data with the registered cases in the National PhV System (NPhVS) gave us an opportunity to assess the extent of BNP underreporting. On 243 farms, a total of 1195 calves younger than 4 weeks with haemorrhagic diathesis were registered. In 58 % of the reports, a diagnosis of BNP was confirmed by blood analysis and or by necropsy. The number of cases observed on individual farms ranged from 1 to 80. Based on these results, the incidence of BNP on affected farms ranged from 0.3 to 15.2 % (median 2.9 %). The maximal incidence in the year with the highest number of BNP calves ranged between 0.4 and 18.6 % (median 3.3 %). Comparing the number of cases registered in the NPhVS to the numbers found in this study revealed considerable underreporting to the national database: only 44 % of the farms and 41 % of the BNP calves included in the study were registered in the NPhVS. In spite of the opportunity to report BNP calves to the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (Langen, Germany), the estimated number of undetected BNP cases is remarkably high. However, even if the revealed

FRACTAL FRAGMENTATION TRIGGERED BY METEOR IMPACT: THE RIES CRATER (GERMANY) Joali Paredes (1), Stefano Rossi (1), Diego Perugini (1), Ulrich Kueppers (2) 1. Department of Physics and Geology, University of Perugia, Italy 2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Munich, Germany The Nördlinger Ries is a large circular depression in western Bavaria, Germany. The depression was caused by a meteor impact, which occurred about 14.3 million-14.5 million years ago. The original crater rim had an estimated diameter of 24 kilometers. Computer modeling of the impact event indicates that the impact or probably had diameters of about 1.5 kilometers and impacted the target area at an angle around 30 to 50 degrees from the surface in a west- southwest to east-northeast direction. The impact velocity is thought to have been about 20 km/s. The meteor impact generated extensive fragmentation of preexisting rocks. In addition, melting of these rocks also occurred. The impact melt was ejected at high speed provoking its extensive fragmentation. Quenched melt fragments are ubiquitous in the outcrops. Here we study melt fragment size distributions with the aim of understanding the style of melt fragmentation during ejection and to constrain the rheological properties of such melts. Digital images of suevite (i.e. the rock generated after deposition and diagenesis of ash and fragments produced by the meteor impact) were obtained using a high-resolution optical scanner. Successively, melt fragments were traced by image analysis and the images segmented in order to obtain binary images on which impact melt fragments are in black color, embedded on a white background. Hence, the size of fragments was determined by image analysis. Fractal fragmentation theory has been applied to fragment size distributions of melt fragments in the Ries crater. Results indicate that melt fragments follow fractal distributions indicating that fragmentation of melt generated by the

In light of the controversial debate on "unconventional" oil and gas resources and the environmental impacts of "fracking", the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) conducted a comprehensive resource assessment of shale gas and light tight oil in Germany and studied the potential environmental impacts of shale gas development and hydraulic fracturing from a geoscientific perspective. Here, we present our final results (BGR 2016), incorporating the majority of potential shale source rock formations in Germany. Besides shale gas, light tight oil has been assessed. According to our set of criteria - i.e. thermal maturity 0.6-1.2 %vitrinite reflectance (VR; oil) and >1.2 % VR (gas) respectively, organic carbon content > 2%, depth between 500/1000 m and 5000 m as well as a net thickness >20 m - seven potentially generative shale formations were indentified, the most important of them being the Lower Jurassic (Toarcian) Posidonia shale with both shale gas and tight oil potential. The North German basin is by far the most prolific basin. The resource assessment was carried out using a volumetric in-place approach. Variability inherent in the input parameters was accounted for using Monte-Carlo simulations. Technically recoverable resources (TRR) were estimated using recent, production-based recovery factors of North American shale plays and also employing Monte-Carlo simulations. In total, shale gas TRR range between 320 and 2030 bcm and tight oil TRR between 13 and 164 Mio. t in Germany. Tight oil potential is therefore considered minor, whereas the shale gas potential exceeds that of conventional resources by far. Furthermore an overview of numerical transport modelling approaches concerning environmental impacts of the hydraulic fracturing is given. These simulations are based on a representative lithostratigraphy model of the North-German basin, where major shale plays can be expected. Numerical hydrogeological modelling of frac fluid

This paper investigates the extension of educational rights to girls, working class children, and the children of migrant workers in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The first section discusses the theoretical basis of affirmative action in West Germany, legal provisions for attaining equality in education, and basic features of the West…

In 1977, when women in West Germany (the Fedeal Republic of Germany) got the legal right to be employed outside the family against their husband's will, paragraph 1356 of the Civil Code, defining housework as the woman's duty, was abolished. Until then, heavy social pressure kept women close to home; in most cases, the choice of an outside…

There are many valid reasons for participating in an educators' tour of Germany. It is a nation that has a legacy of literary and political thought that has had a profound impact on the evolution of Western civilization. Germany has offered the world artistic and scientific genius and been the source of devastating war and unprecedented genocide.…

Full Text Available The paper deals with the actual state of consulting market in Germany. The structural configuration of the Germany consulting market on functional grounds, with the customer's branch, as well as geographically were analyzed. The main prospects of German consulting market development in the context of Europe-wide trends have been defined.

@@ The Eleventh Seminar of the IATS was held from 27th August-2nd September 2006 in K?nigswinter near Bonn of Germany. The sponsor of the Seminar was IATS and the convenor was the Institut für rientund Asienwissenschaften der Universit?t Bonn, Germany.

This paper discusses the actions of noted Harvard University president James Bryant Conant, taken in regard to the Nazi government in Germany, from the time of Conant's becoming president of Harvard University in 1933 to the time of the widespread pogrom in Germany of 9-10 November 1938, known as Kristallnacht. Conant's attitudes and actions…

...] Lightweight Thermal Paper From Germany; Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2010... duty order on lightweight thermal paper (LWTP) from Germany for the period November 1, 2010, through... sales of subject merchandise at less than normal value, based on adverse facts available (AFA). DATES...

There are no official data, but it is estimated that four million adults in Germany have little or no reading, writing and numeracy skills, so that they are known as "functionally illiterate". This is a fact which was long ignored. In this contribution, literacy activities and research in Germany are analysed through a human rights-based…

Traces the history of sociolinguistic studies in West Germany from the early nineteenth century with Humboldt and reports on the state and purposes of sociolinguistic studies in present-day Federal Republic of Germany. Available from Liber Laeromedel, Box 1205, S-22105 Lund, Sweden (Text is in German.) (TL)

This article explores how some children in Denmark, Estonia, Germany and Sweden describe their perspective on learning. The aim of the international study is to gain knowledge of how preschool children in Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Germany reflect and perceive their learning in preschool and other surrounding social contexts. The results are…